Those who were hoping for a kick-ass female action hero hacking and slashing her way through the big screen have a giant battle-axe to grind.
In the very first article I wrote for TheTorchOnline.com, I discussed how the role of women has changed significantly in fantasy-action movies, and how a new era of action-oriented female characters was upon us. In the wake of the small-screen successes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess, women were no longer damsels in distress, but full-fledged heroes.
I ended the article mentioning that in the future, while it’s nice that women are finally being given more active parts, it would be great if they could do so and not be so transparently used for sexual objectification. And I capped it off with, “We’re all looking at you, Red Sonja remake.”
So what happened?
A year ago, it looked like the Red Sonja project, produced by Robert Rodriguez and starring Rose McGowan, was moving ahead at full speed. Both Rodriguez and McGowan spoke of the tone of the film, claiming a dark and gritty aesthetic, and a teaser poster with McGowan atop a mountain of skulls was even released.
But then, something happened. In April of this year, McGowan announced via a tweet that she left the project for another remake of an 80s barbarian film, Conan. Some sources claimed the studio that was producing Red Sonja had financial problems. Some say it was originally delayed because McGowan was injured on the set of Grindhouse.
No matter what the truth is, the fact remains that those who were hoping to see a female action hero playing the lead in her own sword-and-sandals film will have to wait.
Studios always seem nervous about financing female-driven action movies, unless they’re by Quentin Tarantino. Our own Heather Hogan wrote about this recently, discussing the paucity of female superhero films. One of the points that Heather made, which I agree with 100%, is that studios will point to movies like Elektra and Catwoman as evidence that such movies don’t do well with audiences. What they’re ignoring is the fact that those films had awful scripts, poor effects, and essentially played out like a series of missed opportunities.
This past season I had the misfortune of sitting through the dreck that was Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Clash of the Titans. Do I think they’re proof that Hollywood should avoid Greek mythology material? Of course not. They’re only proof that those specific movies sucked.
While, at least according to the cast lists, there is an action-oriented woman in the Conan script, she’ll still be playing second fiddle to the titular hero, and our hopes for a headlining heroine on par with Xena are dashed for now.
But I’m hopeful for the future. If Conan is really well-made and does well in the box office, maybe history will repeat itself and a Red Sonja film will be released in its wake.
We’re all looking at you, Conan remake.
Similar Posts:
- Red Sonja and Conan the Barbarian Are Making a Comeback…OF DEATH!!!
- Ask The Oracle! (Fantasy Questions Answered)
- MAD MAX 4 in the Works (Though Probably Without Mel Gibson)
- From the Palantir! Megan Fox May Be RED SONJA, and STAR WARS Gets Skewered
- The Best Characters Marvel HASN’T Turned Into Movies (Yet!)
And you talk of the “successes” of Xena which ended long ago and Buffy. Buffy took off as a comic book (granted with Joss Whedon at the helm) and has a much bigger fan base than Xena. I think thats the biggest difference and you can’t really compare the two.
Xena might get a reboot but Lucy Lawless disappeared into obscurity and even had financial trouble after the TV series ended. She even took on a different role in as a Queen and not an amazon warrior to possibly disance herself further from Xena.
What the hell are you talking about? Lucy Lawless is doing fine. After Xena she starred in Battlestar Galactica and is now playing one of the leads, Lucretia, in Spartacus. She’s about as far from “disappeared into obscurity” as a person gets.
Not only that, she has one of the most vibrant, passionate fanbases of any actor I’ve covered. People LOVE her all over the world.
I don’t think the Conan remake has the legs to float and we probably won’t see a Red Sonja film unless Thor is a massive succes since they are in the fantasy genre. Look at the how the other recent Arnold remake/reboot films performed lately. Terminator Salvation - flop from box office standpoint and then Predators - didn’t make a slap at the box office.
And these are two of the higher profile franchises that the average person on the street would likely recognize easier than Conan the Barbarian.
Dark Agnes is listed in “upcoming projects” at Paradox Entertainment’s home page:
http://www.paradox-entertainment.com/entertainment.html
It was originally on IMDB, but for some reason it’s disappeared now. I spoke to their Vice President of Business Development, Gudrun Giddings, in person at Howard Days. She confirmed that the film’s in the works, and they even have a director (who she’s not at liberty to name yet, but is confident in his/her abilities).
Where did you hear about a Dark Agnes movie? I haven’t heard anything, and there’s no IMDB listing.
Oh well. At least we can look forward to a terrible Wonder Woman film based on DC’s latest “reboot” of the character complete with classic 1990’s biker chick costume. The “reboot” in the comic books appears to be a clear precursor to what DC hopes will form the basis of a Wonder Woman film.
Hopefully if fan reaction is strong enough (and sales poor enough), Wonder Woman will fix her personal time line in time to ensure any Wonder Woman movie reflects her long-standing history rather than the Superman/Batman combo reboot.
It smarts for reasons too long and complicated to get into to call the new Conan film a remake, but given what I know of the script, don’t get your hopes up for Tamara being anything more than token cheesecake with a few action scenes.
“While, at least according to the cast lists, there is an action-oriented woman in the Conan script, she’ll still be playing second fiddle to the titular hero, and our hopes for a headlining heroine on par with Xena are dashed for now.”
Well, there is the recently-announced Dark Agnes film. Dark Agnes was another creation of Robert E. Howard’s, and one of the first shining lights in literary action heroines. Far from the usual “damsel in distress” stereotype, Agnes was a tough, independent, kick-ass swordswoman told from the first person perspective. Though she wore practical armour and clothing, she was still feminine. She puts a lot of modern action girls to shame, and is a testament to Howard’s feminist qualities that get drowned by the tiresome accusations based on the commercial Conan stories.
I’m thus much more interested in Dark Agnes than Red Sonja, or the new Conan for that matter. Sadly, with the track record of Howard adaptations in cinema, I might be setting myself up for disappointment, but there’s always hope that this will be the movie that bucks the trend - not just for a decent Howard adaptation, but for action heroines.