Boaz Yakin to write, direct 'Conan'

HOLLYWOOD, June 15 (UPI) -- Warner Bros. has hired Boaz Yakin to write and possibly to direct a new Hollywood version of "Conan the Barbarian."

Yakin wrote and directed "Fresh" and directed "Remember the Titans." He says he has admired the work of Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan series, since his boyhood.

He said he plans to keep the script more closely aligned to the original than two Dino De Laurentiis-produced "Conan" films that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yakin came up with a new take that impressed the movie studio.

Warner Bros. is looking at early 2007 for production of the film, to be produced by Irving Azoff, Jon Jashni, Richard Alexander and Akiva Goldsman, Daily Variety reported.