In my Escape Plan set visit PART 1, I told you all about the constructed sets on the New Orleans soundstage, the filming within the interrogation room and how Arnold, dressed as prisoner Emil Rottmayer, pushed the chicken strips on me. I was going to just give you a PART 2 and be done, however, in light of some new "CONAN" news, you're getting this bonus segment and then later in PART 3, you'll hear about my encounter with Sylvester Stallone along with other memorable Escape Plan stories.
First, let's talk stogies and Conan! Not long after lunch, I was sitting side-by-side with Schwarzenegger while we were in New Orleans. I sat inches away from the Escape Plan star, who wore a white tank top exposing world-famous guns. The Austrian Oak lit up a ballsy cigar. I asked the manly star what brand he was smoking.
“This is an OPUS X. It was given to me by Stallone,” he explained while he cut the cigar and followed with a good puff. The smoke blew into my face. Some people might have been offended, but being one of this man’s biggest fans, I am no stranger to the stogie. He also confirmed one of his favorite cigars is the Montecristo No. 2.
“That smells soooo good,” I admitted, only wishing I could ever experience a cigar so desirable and luxurious.
“Do you smoke cigars?” Arnold asked.
“I do,” I answered excitedly, nodding my head. Just as I had hoped, the action hero was on it.
“Let me get you one,” Schwarzenegger said, hopping up on his feet.
As he got up to arrange for my cigar, I suggested to Arnold that he should have Daniel Marshall do a custom humidor for this film. The Austrian cigar aficionado admitted that “The Tomb” is a great name for the ultimate humidor but now, as we all know, the film is called Escape Plan.
“I’ll get you a cigar and cut it, because I’m sure you came unprepared,” Arnold said, laughing and pointing his stogie at me. Arnold asked Daniel, his assistant, to make sure that I would get a cigar before I left.
After another couple of takes in the interrogation room, Arnold came back to the monitors, greeted me again and then sat in the director’s chair next to me, taking a few more puffs from his OPUSX cigar. This was my opportune moment to talk Conan with the one true cinematic Cimmerian. I brought up the fact that his facial trim from Escape Plan was really the second time he had a grey goatee on screen. It is in fact at the end of the Conan films when we see Schwarzenegger, playing an older mid-sixties-looking barbarian king, sitting on his throne.
“You didn’t have to grow out a goatee just because of me, you know,” said Arnold. “You didn’t have to go that far.”
“Oh, I did,” I rebutted. “In fact, I was close to dying it grey, but I suppose that would have been taking it too far.”
I began the next topic with an introduction to my one and only tattoo, my Conan standard showing two snakes facing each other.
“Right, I know you’re into Conan,” Arnold said, listening as I continued.
It was nice to hear Arnold already knew of me as a Conan supporter. I guess it helps when TheArnoldFans creates a King Conan petition which received over 14,000 signatures and it gets picked up in the New York Times. Then again, Arnold's awareness was probably due to our weekly Conan-pleading tweets. Yes, we're honored to have Governor Conan follow us on Twitter.
From my Conan tattoo, I segued into King Conan, which remains his most eagerly anticipated film by the majority of his fans. “More than any other film, the fans tell me they want King Conan,” I said as I began to plead a case to Schwarzenegger. While I was here on the set of Escape Plan, this was a month or two before it was officially announced that he had signed on to The Legend of Conan. So Conan news at this time was non-existent but I wanted to speak up on behalf of the fans as well as fulfilling my need for closure on the matter. Maybe it was time to give up my dream for a new Conan and just hear him say ‘it’s over.’
“Please tell me there is still a chance for King Conan…or is it truly dead now?”
“Not at all. King Conan is very much alive,” Schwarzenegger confirmed, smiling. “We’re just now stirring the pot,” the now future Conan star proclaimed while acting out a pot-stirring motion with his all-powerful, sword-wielding, Wheel-of-Pain-pushing arms.
This would have been an amazing exclusive if TheArnoldFans could have been first to reveal these words which Schwarzenegger gave me but I decided that this was Arnold’s own exclusive to share when the time was right. I was not about to steal his thunder; I know how vengeful Conan can be.
Well, I might not have been able to share those powerful words at the time but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have all NEW Legend of Conan comments to share with you NOW! Fredrik Malmberg, co-founded Paradox Entertainment and the man who sits by Crom's side, JUST sent me this new update!
Fredrik Malmberg: "Arnold is following the development closely (to The Legend of Conan), and he is very involved with the story development at this stage."
After Malmberg told me that Arnold's muscles looked "Fantastic" in the October Muscle & Fitness magazine, he gives fans reason to believe that 2014 will be one of Arnold's greatest year's ever with The Legend of Conan following Terminator 5!
Fredrik Malmberg: "He would go straight from filming Terminator to the Conan set. The top creative team is working very hard to deliver a great story. Things are looking good and we have a fantastic support from Universal Studios."
Later, Arnold personally gave me this great comment about preparing to step back into his barbaric role:
Schwarzenegger: “Age doesn’t mean anything to me, because I work out every day. I work out twice a day, as a matter of fact. At night I work out with weights, and in the morning I do cardiovascular training. So for me, to get on the set and to swing the sword around again and to ride the horses and all those things doesn’t mean anything [does not scare me], because I feel like I did thirty years ago. So as long as I stay in shape, that’s the key thing, and to keep your body young. Even though you do feel the pain when you wipe out and when you do your fight scenes and you get more sore and the body doesn’t come back as quickly and all this . . . but just grind through it, you know? That’s what it’s all about!”
We're not sure of the release date yet for this dream Conan film but let's all celebrate when Escape Plan opens in theaters on October 18th! Follow Escape Plan on Twitter at @EscapePlanMovie and check our Facebook page to be the first to see more clips and pics as they're released! If you want to return for our PART 3 Set Visit of Escape Plan (and you WILL want to), then be back!