In a recent interview with Mental Floss’ Jake Rossen, Gold discussed his scuttled animated adaptation, which he believes captured Howard’s voice in a way even Milius failed to do. The film, “Conan: Red Nails,” was based on Howard’s final Conan story, which many of the writers’ fans consider one of his very best. The yarn finds Conan operating as a broadsword-for-hire thrust into the middle of a ferocious conflict between two warring cultures. Aside from its compelling narrative, “Red Nails” is notable for introducing the female warrior Valeria, who was portrayed in Milius’ classic by Sandahl Bergman. It’s one you need to, er, nail.
According to Gold, he was on the cusp of doing precisely that. As he said:
“I wanted our film to accurately adapt the source material, and our main character. I don’t believe violence should ever be pursued gratuitously, but purposefully, with a real focus on the repercussions of violence. Even when Conan kills the dragon, after a truly epic encounter, Conan has respect for this beast—one creature of the wild recognizing another.”
Gold can certainly talk the barbarian talk, so why didn’t he get to walk the walk?
Well, it was a result of the time-honored tradition of financing being difficult to come by when you’re making an adult-skewing cartoon, even when you’ve lined up an impressive voice-acting cast.