Risky Business Blog are reporting that Conan director Marcus Nispel, Lionsgate and Nu Image/Millennium have found their new Conan star, and he’s a dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The 41 year old body builder from Austria (yeah, you read that right), has recently become an actor; he played a T-800 in Terminator Salvation. He’s also played a Conan era Arnie in a biopic entitled “See Arnold Run”. Are these parallels beginning to scare you?

Shooting is set to begin this fall, somewhere in Bulgaria.

A short while ago we had word of a shortlist of potential Conan movie directors; their specialty was in horror movies. The list included Christoph Gans, Neil Marshall and director of choice, Marcus Nispel. Nispel helmed the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th remakes and more worringly, the terrible Viking movie, “Pathfinder”.

A new director was sought after Brett Ratner stepped down from the helm due to scheduling constraints. The movie is likely to have a smaller budget and could begin production as early as August this year, with reports suggesting Bulgaria as its locale.
Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain are currently working through Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer’s first draft.

An announcement as to who shall play Conan is expected shortly.