Conan The Barbarian is many things: a sword-toting bruiser, a Cimmerian warrior, a potentially star-making role for actor Jason Momoa, the titular hero in the new Marcus Nispel-directed adaptation of Robert E. Howardâs 80-year-old, Weird Tales magazine stories. One thing heâs not, however, is soft, so itâs only natural that Conanâs love interest is a woman whoâs equally resilient, similarly capable of whooping ass, and, of course, a total hottie. No high maintenance, prissy, afraid-to-break-a-nail kinds of ladies need apply.
To that end, itâs no wonder that Nispel and company cast Rachel Nichols as Tamara, a sheltered monk with bloodlines to necromancers who rescues Mr. Barbarian from potential death, attracts his romantic side, and then takes him to bed.
The role requires an actress who can believably maneuver through several high-stakes action scenes and hold her own in brutal fight sequences; for Nichols, that was nothing. In 2009, the model-turned-actress packed heavy firearms and beat the piss out of fools as Scarlett OâHara in G.I. Joe, which harkened back, albeit in a much more elaborate way, to her days as a livewire CIA agent in J.J. Abramsâ hit ABC series Alias.
For Conan The Barbarian (in theaters tomorrow), Nichols utilizes her ride-or-die chick expertise to play a fantasy woman whoâs both vulnerable and badass. Complex recently spoke with Nichols to discuss the characterâs toughness, the art of fighting, trading blows with Rose McGowan, and an unexpected Comic-Con highlight.
Interview by Matt Barone (@mbarone)
Complex: Before working on Conan The Barbarian, in which you perform several stunts and even get your own girl-on-girl fight sequence, you shot G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra. Did the action-heavy G.I. Joe prepare you in any specific ways for Conan?
Rachel Nichols: Yeah, definitely. Iâm not a stranger to roles that involve a lot of action. It started with Alias and it just hasnât stopped since. With G.I. Joe, we had the luxury of weeks of training, and we worked with some very talented people; mixed martial arts, fight sequences, and learning moves, for that sort of dance that is a fight sequence, and I loved every minute of it.
Obviously, you have muscle memory for stuff like that. With Conan, it was the first time I ever had to use a sword. So, learning some of the swordplay led to a new talent that I acquired while working on the film. But any fight sequence, even one with swords, is a dance, and I was greatly helped by G.I. Joe, yeah.
When you and the rest of the Conan cast were training with swords, I hope they didnât give you real swords. Was it a plastic toy sword, in hopes that you all didnât kill each other before shooting even began?
[Laughs.] Theyâre not super-soft plastic, theyâve got a little bit of weight, but theyâre by no means full-on, actual, stab-you-at-all-in-the-heart, potentially-kill-anyone swords. There were no accidents while rehearsing with the swords, thankfully. Maybe a jammed finger or two, but thatâs not so bad.
Thatâs good to know. What about Conan appealed to you initially?
To be honest, Iâd never even seen the original movie. It came out right after I was born, actually. I was drawn to this movie for a couple of reasons, though. One, thirty years have gone by, and I think this classic film was ready for a reintroduction and a reinvention, sort of a little bit of a facelift. I started reading the script, and youâre introduced to Tamara, and sheâs a monk, and then, five minutes after youâre introduced to her, sheâs stripping an invader of his knife and threatening him with it. I thought, âOh, wow, sheâs definitely not going to be a damsel in distress here; sheâs going to show up and kick some ass,â which she does.
She does give Conan some attitude in the beginning, and they decide to join forces. She ends up being more of a counterpart than a subservient damsel in distress. Iâm a big fan of strong, butt-kicking female roles, and this one promised that Iâd get to kick some serious butt.
Butt-kicking roles must be a lot of fun to play.
Yeah, and I like seeing other actresses get to kick butt when I watch movies. Recently, in other action films and horror films, if they have a female as one of their lead characters, sheâs most likely kicking butt and taking names, and I like it. That makes for a good role model, and itâs a nice, strong message to send, as well. Girls can do it, too.
That seems to be the way you approach new projects. Throughout your career, youâve never had to play a damsel in distress; going back to a film like P2, a horror-thriller in which you whooped plenty of ass.
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Absolutely. P2 was definitely the most physically demanding role Iâve had, and I loved it. I really like that demeanor of, âI donât need someone to save meâI can save myself.â Obviously, in Conan, Conan does in fact save me. [Laughs.] Iâm strapped to a wheel and he has to come to my rescue. It was very important to the structure of the story that I save Conan when we dive off the cliff, where I swim with him and drag him onto the boat after heâs been poisoned by Marique and heâs wounded. And then he saves me by freeing me from the wheel, and then I get to go and throw down with Rose [McGowan], which was awesome.
Whatâs interesting about Tamara is that, yeah, she can kick ass, but it doesnât seem like sheâs been trained to do so, or that sheâs somehow programmed to fight. Itâs more of a reactionary, survivalist, on-the-fly type of fighting style.
Yeah, and Iâm so glad that you said that. When I was learning the swordplay and training for the fight scenes, I had to be really careful because she couldnât bust out and suddenly be this ninja warrior killer, with perfect sword movements and perfect fighting skills, because that would make no sense. You wouldnât know where it came from. So, I learned the swordplay and I learned the fight sequences, but, on my end, they had to be a little messy; that way, you could believe that instinct was kicking in. It also had to be obvious that she wasnât trained for this, and that sheâs not some kind of robot. [Laughs.]
The fight training wasnât downloaded into her brain right before she was attacked; it had to look as though she was becoming this warrior just because thatâs what her personality would have done. Thatâs a bit tougher to play than just a character who ruthlessly and systematically takes people out, but also more fun, I think.
That seems beneficial to an actor such as yourself, who doesnât have any real familiarity with swordplay; in a sense, you can approach the character with a mindset of, âWell, I donât know how to use this stuff, either,â and that can give the performance a much more naturalistic feel.
Definitely, and the guys at 87elevenâthey were the American counterpart for the stunt team that was over in Bulgariaâwere great. A lot of times, one of the most important things you learn when youâre training for a fight sequence is how youâre going to avoid punches that are thrown at you. [Laughs.] Thereâs a strong reliance on sense and protection. Itâs not only learning how to throw a punch, but also learning how to take a punch, as well.
Have you been in any real-life fights?
Iâve never actually been in a real-life fight, except maybe with my little brother. [Laughs.]Alias was the first time that I ever had fight scenes, and then my most epic and favorite fight was the one I had with Sienna [Miller] in G.I. Joe, because weâre good friends. We had a fantastic time putting that scene together; it was a long fight, but it was also really cool. We got a lot of compliments on that fight, which is always gratifying. Many of the compliments were from menâgo figure. [Laughs.]
The praise was well-deserved, no question. Going into your fight with Rose McGowan in Conan, was there a thought in your mind of, âIâve got to top that G.I. Joe fight somehow?
Yeah. Well, we had the luxury of six weeks of prep time on G.I. Joe, to get all of that fightâs steps down well. We learned MMA, and we played with different props and different weapons. We had this beautiful dance choreographed way before we shot it.
We didnât have that luxury on Conan, though. A lot of it was on the fly, because the script was changing a lot, and we had to sort of be ready and able to do anything that was asked of us. But I did want to win! [Laughs.] Because I lose to Sienna in G.I. Joe, and I hated losing. Although Jason [Momoa] does save me in Conan, I do get to [SPOILER ALERT] kick Rose and send her down to her death after he cuts her hand off, and that was pretty awesome.
Speaking of Jason Momoa, obviously a major part of the movie hinges on his performance. To you, what makes him such a good choice to take over the Conan mantle?
I give him so much credit, because Jasonâs Conan is fantastic. In that same breath, Arnoldâs [Schwarzenegger] Conan is fantastic, too, but theyâre very, very, very different. People who like the old one, theyâre allowed to like the new one. Itâs not a competition.
Jason has this insane ability to move, for a guy whoâs as big as he is and as muscular as he is, with this sort of grace, sleekness, agility, and speed; itâs these fluid motions. Itâs this sort of sexy sleekness that he has, and it sets it apart, I believe, from any other kinds of movie heroes that weâre looking at in films right now. He did a really good job of being respectful to who the iconic Conan character is while also bringing in a lot of himself.
For those die-hard fantasy fans, it also helps that he did such a great job of being an ultimate badass on HBOâs Game Of Thrones. Those who watched Thrones must have thought, âOh, nice, this guy can kick ass. He knows what heâs doing.â
Yes, I totally agree with you. Game Of Thrones was the best form of PR Conan ever could have had, because he was so good in it, it got his face out there, people loved him, and the show became so popular. Now, theyâre like, âOh my god, heâs gonna be Conan! Thatâs awesome!â [Laughs.] It couldnât have worked out better.
Fans of these sorts of sword-and-sorcery, fantasy properties can be super obsessive over their favorite characters, stories, and movies. Have you encountered any of that extreme fandom while promoting Conan?
I went to Comic-Con for the first time this year and I loved it! I was amazed by the whole thing. Every four seconds, I saw someone in an awesome costume that Iâd want to walk up to and say, âCan I take a picture with you?â [Laughs.] It was really kind of exhilarating. It was important to see all of these people who are so dedicated and fascinated by this stuff. Just the amount of stuff that they know and the preparation that goes into their costumes, itâs unreal. These people keep this industry alive. Theyâre the ones who sit in seats and watch the movies; you want to walk up to each and every one of them and personally thank them.
Did you actually go up to anyone and request a picture?
I wanted to walk up to people and ask them directly, but sadly I didnât. I didnât know what kind of trouble that would get into. [Laughs.] Although I did have my picture taken with Taylor Lautner, and heâs kind of cute. I can thank Conan for that.
Interview by Matt Barone (@mbarone)