Exclusive: Randy Couture on Mandrake

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Exclusive: Randy Couture on Mandrake

Source:Edward Douglas

May 28, 2008

Earlier today, ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! had a chance to sit down with three-time UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture to talk about his role in the upcoming Universal DVD prequel The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior and he told us a little about Mandrake, the movie version of Lee Falk's comic character Mandrake the Magician (created way back in the mid-'30s) to which Couture has been attached as a mysterious character named "Jed."

The film was delayed due to the writers strike, but he was hopeful that it would get back on track soon. "It's been reset, and I think now I think they're waiting for the dust to settle with the Olympics in China, 'cause most of the movie is shot in China," he told us. "I'm attached to play a U.S. agent that's intricately wound up into the plot of the movie."

"I'm not familiar with the comics at all," he admitted. "I'd never heard of them until after I've read for the part in the movie, and then I said, 'Oh, this is based on a comic book character' so I had to go back and look at it then. It reminded me a lot of Chris Angel and some of the stuff that he does in his persona a little bit."

It obviously sounds like they're going for a more modern version of the character if that's the case. Currently, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is slated to play the lead character to be directed by Chuck Russell, who directed The Mask and the original "Scorpion King" movie. (See how that all works out?)

Look for our full video interview with Couture later this summer before the release of The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior.

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Posted by: Bleh on May 28, 2008 at 18:27:17

Randy is a beast.

Posted by: Dengar777 on May 28, 2008 at 18:27:27

Mandrake? Wow! That's so unimportant! And we all know how much the Scorpian King changed our lives.
I love how the movie industry is scrambling to apprehend any comic book property left over.

Posted by: Insane Mariachi on May 28, 2008 at 18:32:41

I dont care about this....Scorpion King with no Rock??? Weak

Posted by: Darth Venom on May 28, 2008 at 18:36:59

This movie is going to lick moose sac and hard. Its seems to me that there just scrambling together any movie property they can get their hands on. Pretty soon will be seeing a live action adaptation of archie and jughead. Stay tuned folks, more garbage movie productions ae probably in the works.

Posted by: DownUnder on May 28, 2008 at 18:40:38

I think the only way they could do this would be to make it more like that old Bill Bixby series 'The Magician', but even so, is that going to bring audiences into the cinema? The thing we're seeing with the successful (and even less-successful but still close-to-decent) movies based on comics is that they have a real story to tell apart from an origin followed by a bit of biffo action, and the characters drive that story. That's been the case with Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, Iron Man, the better Superman movies (not Returns) and even FF, to name a few.

Anyway, if the studios are really clutching for ideas (and with Mandrake they obviously are), I'd rather see them try to resurrect The Phantom than Mandrake, any day.

Posted by: Abe on May 28, 2008 at 18:45:06

I cannot wait to see this movie! And if JRM is playing Mandrake, all the better!

Posted by: Tazer.tv on May 28, 2008 at 18:46:26

I think they should do a movie version of the old series "The Prisoner" and not have a retarded ending like the series...

Anyone?

Anyone?..........

Posted by: StrangeHero on May 28, 2008 at 18:47:59

Meh, doesn't sound that bad... Bruno Cruz I hate you!

Posted by: Mastermind on May 28, 2008 at 19:03:30

Mandrake will kick 10 kinds of ass if it gets made!! Hell yeah, can't wait for this one!

Posted by: Darriann on May 28, 2008 at 19:06:05

I think they may be building towards making a Defenders Of The Universe movie with this and the remake of Flash Gordan coming up.Might not be to bad.

Posted by: Legion_997 on May 28, 2008 at 19:09:09

I remember reading Mandrake comics when I was a kid. Belive it or not, but they are really great comics...

Posted by: kevlar on May 28, 2008 at 19:13:21

got a feeling this scorpion king movie is goin straight to video, i actually liked the first scorpion king movie better than the mummy returns, it was good they jus cut it too short, as for mandrake havent heard much about it, but chuck russell may do a good job with this.

Posted by: Xybalba on May 28, 2008 at 19:18:54

...im 37 yrs young...and i clearly remember my youth here in Puerto Rico reading the Mandrake comics as well as The Phantom and Flash Gordon...theres another character i havent hear or read about anymore, though....a top-hat and tuxedo thief called 'Fantomas'...maybe a Defenders movie could be a possibility...

Posted by: FanBoiiiii on May 28, 2008 at 19:20:49

How about Superherohype gets renamed to MarvelHeroHype because that's really what it's all about!

Hahahhaha, I'm joking! Who's this Mandrake dude? Dr. Strange?

Posted by: Thomas Parker on May 28, 2008 at 19:40:16

Last I heard Chris Nolan is attached to a movie version of "The Prisoner".....

which sounds awesome

Posted by: Steven The Comic Book Artist ! on May 28, 2008 at 20:19:39

My cousin and I are fans of U.F.C., and it's cool that Couture wants to branch out and do films. Athough he was in a movie that we saw a couple of weeks ago called Redbelt and we were really disappointed with the film for various reasons. Hopefully, this Mandrake film can put him in another light and show him doing some cool stuff. Hopefully, this movie will not be another bomb like The Phantom (which I'd love to see redone someday).

Good luck, Randy!!!

---Later!

Posted by: mase28 on May 28, 2008 at 20:20:00

im feeling old just because i know who Mandrake is used to read the comicstrip in the NY Daily News on sundays growing Up....those were the days. I guess a decent movie can be made of this property....i guess.

Posted by: Jay on May 28, 2008 at 21:35:57

Randy Coutoure and Mandrake in the same sentence makes my brain want to explode x_x, sorry. Just wanted to share that with everyone.

Posted by: Bo on May 28, 2008 at 22:23:44

Mandrake will make a great film. I can't wait to see it.

Posted by: Krazy Kat on May 29, 2008 at 00:38:19

Posted by: Darriann on May 28, 2008 at 19:06:05

I think they may be building towards making a Defenders Of The Universe movie

That's Defenders of the Earth, champ. Voltron's back on Boomerang.
Mandrake's an interesting character, but I don't know if they'll update him successfully. If they do, it can be awesome, but it's a really big if.

Posted by: Spyder121 on May 29, 2008 at 01:05:57

Dengar...Just because you've never heard of something doesn't make it bad. It simply means you should look into something before calling it "so unimportant." Mandrake is actually a really cool character and I'd love to see him on the big screen. Even better if they can put him up there with the rest of the Defenders of the Earth (Flash Gordon, Lothar, and the Phantom, since you probably don't know them either).

Posted by: xaioxrox on May 29, 2008 at 01:25:17

Maybe in the US, Mandrake isn't a well know character, nut here in latinamerica. His comics are great, every week, there's a new comic strip every week. And i say if there's a Phantom movie, there's going to be a new Flash Gordon movie and a Mandrake movie, Maybe they will do a defenders of the earth movie, a rip off of the avengers movie, jejeje, but sounds exiting

Posted by: Cal on May 29, 2008 at 03:34:20

I loved Mandrake as a kid... Having grown up on Defenders of the Earth.

Hopefully this will be good. The star is top notch, but I'm unsure about the rest.

Posted by: puggdogg on May 29, 2008 at 05:09:53

Mandrake is cool. He was created in 1934 by Lee Falk, well before Dr. Strange. I used to watch Defenders Of The Earth when I was a kid and now I have the DVD's. But The Phantom is my preference. He's my favourite superhero and he's the very first one ever created. I've been collecting Phantom comics since 1994 with a few years on hiatus when LOTR came out. I live in Australia where the Phantom is much more popular. I wouldn't expect many Americans to understand how important the Phantom is on comic book heritage.

Posted by: Edward Douglas on May 29, 2008 at 05:59:07

I actually think Randy could do well in films... he has a strong presence in person and from what I've seen in the trailer I saw for Scorpion King 2, he looks great. He has a small part in David Mamet's Redbelt, essentially just doing color commentary at a fight, but I seriously think he could have a decent acting career if he kept working at it.

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