Jason Momoa has built a varied filmography over the past few years, but despite starring in hits like Aquaman and Dune, there are a few projects that, retrospectively, he’s less keen on. One of them, as revealed in a profile with GQ, was Conan the Barbarian.
The ill-fated fantasy movie was a reboot of the ‘80s movie of the same name. The original Conan the Barbarian starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular character and is widely considered to be the Terminator star’s breakout role. Although the original film didn’t light up the box office, it has gone down in history as a cult classic for its exciting sword stunts and the performances of not just Schwarzenegger, but also co-stars James Earl Jones and Sandahl Bergman. Bergman’s role as Valeria in the original film was so well-recieved, she ended up winning a Golden Globe for it.
Unfortunately, the 2011 reboot of the adventure movie struggled to achieve the same level of cultural relevance. Despite Momoa playing Conan, the film bombed at the box office and was critically panned.
Over a decade later, Momoa has spoken candidly about his true feelings regarding the film. “I’ve been a part of a lot of things that really sucked, and movies where it’s out of your hands,” he explained. “Conan [the Barbarian] was one of them. It’s one of the best experiences I had and it [was] taken over and turned into a big pile of shit.”
The good news is, Momoa has since moved past working on “big piles of shit.” Hype for his return as Aquaman 2 is continuing to heat up after Momoa revealed that Batman actor Ben Affleck was returning to the DCEU for the film.
Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom, swims into theatres on March 17, 2023.