Nispel signs up to direct 'Conan'

Marcus Nispel has agreed to direct Nu-Image/Millenium's Conan, says Variety.

Nispel, who helmed the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday The 13th remakes, will replace Brett Ratner in the director's chair for the barbarian epic.

Nispel will use Frank Frazetta's illustrations and violent period films such as Apocalypto as inspiration.

Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have written the script for Conan, which will be produced by Avi Lerner and Joe Gatta.

The Robert E. Howard pulp creation was first brought to the screen in 1982's Conan The Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. A sequel, Conan The Destroyer, followed two years later.