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FREDERICK FIERST

NORTHAMPTON - Bringing a barbarian to the big screen takes a lot of civilized work behind the scenes. Just ask Northampton entertainment lawyer Frederick Fierst and his son, Daniel Fierst.

Both are in Los Angeles today for the red carpet premiere of the new "Conan the Barbarian" 3D movie. The elder Fierst, 63, is credited as an executive producer on the film for his role transferring the Conan franchise to new owners. The film opens worldwide Aug. 19.

California-based Paradox Entertainment Inc. acquired Conan and other intellectual property of author Robert E. Howard in 2003 for about $6 million, Fierst said.

Daniel Fierst, 28, worked for Paradox for three years as its president's personal assistant. A 2002 Northampton High School graduate, he got to see the Conan reboot in its early stages, arranging meetings between Paradox and the relatively unknown production company that made the movie, Millennium Films.

"Everybody in Hollywood thought we were crazy for going with Millennium rather than one of the major studios," Frederick Fierst said. "But we were convinced they were going to make the film instead of (sending it to) development hell."

Paradox has been the licensing authority for other Conan commodities, including a comic book series and an online game, for years. But until 2007 all the Conan film rights belonged to Warner Brothers.

Fierst said the studio never followed through with a feature, and so when its claim lapsed, Paradox took it over.

The film is directed by Marcus Nispel, who is known for remakes of "Friday the 13th" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as well as documentaries on musicians including Janet Jackson and George Michael.

In the title role is the heavy-browed Jason Momoa, who played another barbarian in the recent HBO miniseries "A Game of Thrones," and also starred in the final season of "Baywatch."

Daniel Fierst said Paradox wanted a "Conan" that was true to Howard's stories from pulp magazines of the 1930s. He said the Conan played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 1982 film was a "hodgepodge bastardization," borrowing a villain from a different Howard series, "Kull of Atlantis," and making the hero a slave.

"That was outrageous to fanboys," Daniel Fierst said. "They'd say Conan would die before he became a slave."

Indeed, in a trailer for the new film, Momoa's Conan says, "No man should live in chains."

Frederick Fierst said Paradox went out of its way to make peace with Conan purists, donating to the fan-run Robert E. Howard Foundation. He said part of the new movie was screened at the group's recent convention in Texas, and it was well received.

Last summer Frederick Fierst traveled to Bulgaria to see some of the filming. He said many of the special effects shots were done in a former Soviet propaganda studio, and there was also location shots around the country, including one in a gigantic cave where the movie's climactic final scene takes place.

A partner at Fierst, Pucci & Kane on Gothic Street, Frederick Fierst formerly represented Mirage Studios, which sold the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise to Viacom in 2009 for $60 million. He said Nickelodeon is now developing a new Turtles animated series.

Acquiring the Howard universe involved a lot of trademark and copyright work, in which Fierst said he was helped by two associates at his firm, Amanda Schreyer and Hun Ohm, and paralegal Diane Kleber.

Daniel Fierst now lives in Westport and attends the University of Massachusetts School of Law in Dartmouth. This summer he had an internship at the Northwestern district attorney's office in Northampton, helping prosecutors with research and assisting during a trial. He said he hopes to find a career in international law, environmental law or, like his father, entertainment law.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.