Valeria is Back Beneath My "Sandahl-ed" Feet!
TAFs Exclusive Interview with Sandahl Bergman!

Reported By: Randy Jennings
Sunday, August 22, 2010

If you're in you late thirties like I am, you saw Conan the Barbarian
in the theaters at a young and impressionable age; a time in your life
when Arnold convinced you he would forever be the world's greatest
action hero and Valeria, played by Sandahl Bergman, would "live
forever" in your fantasies. I recently met Valeria at The Hollywood
Show convention. She was one of the top draws at the show but she
certainly had no problem with giving me an interview on her break. For over half an hour we discussed all things Conan, John Milius, Arnold and other things that are best in life.

TAFs: The great John Milius gave me the "King Conan" script and Valeria's look-alike has a big role in it. Bring me back to the meeting or phone-call you had with Milius when you were offered King Conan. Were you shocked to be asked back in another Conan film?

Sandahl Bergman: Yes, it actually was Leonard, his assistant, who called and said 'You know, we've been working on this script and basically it was like, 'Oh, I know you're at WB and I live in the neighborhood.' 'Oh great, stop by some time' and that's how it came to be. So they sent me the script and I really liked it. I was surprised that they found a way to work me back in there. We had a couple of meetings on it. I was really surprised and very excited about it actually. And then it ll fell apart.

TAFs: How much longer did it fall apart after you were offered the role?

Sandahl: Well, I know the Wachowski brothers were on board (producers) so whatever politics were there, I was not savvy to. But I do know the next thing Arnold was running for Governor and so there you go. And of course, like a million other projects that's the story in Hollywood. It's like, yep, we're going to do this and then it's 'no, now we're not doing it.

TAFs: If Arnold comes back to films and wants to do King Conan again, would you still be on board? With or without John directing but as long as he gives his blessing?

Sandahl: Yes, the only way I'd do it is if John Milius had a huge part in it. You know, because he's the storyteller and that's why he's such a great director. I mean he lived the story. John tends to live his writing personally. And like I said, how I was hired initially, I
remembered that interview when I first walked in and he's like 'Oh my god, you're it. Where have you been?' No screen test and you have the job. It was very strange how that all happened. John created this wonderful fantasy film with such a great love story an you just cared about all the people. I thought it was cast beautifully. Max Von Sydow, James Earl Jones, the three of us noodnicks: a bodybuilder, a dancer and a surfer. I mean, who would ever think, right?

TAFs: King Conan was going to happen right after T3, so did you prepare for the role in any way with swords or fighting?

Sandahl: You know, I wish but my sad story is that shortly after we finished Conan, we had a fire and I lost everything including the sword that John gave me. It was burned...melted.

TAFs: Damn, did you find the smoldering, melted sword eventually?

Sandahl: No, they wouldn't let us back in. It was a condo and four condos were totally gutted and I was in New York at the time. So I came back to nothing. I lost a lot of stuff. That was the only thing I kept from Conan too outside of a lot of the press stuff.

TAFs: What's your stance on immortality? Do you want to live forever?

Sandahl: Yeah, the famous line. I can't go anywhere without someone saying that line to me. I would be traveling at airports with my husband and some guy would get in my face and say 'Do you want to live forever?' I'm like, what is this guy doing? What's he saying? I get a lot of that or if I take a photo, someone wants me to do what John had me do in the movie where I tap the sword. You know, where I'm in the cave and I'm about ready to take on those two guys and I tap it. That was Mr. Milius's genius with that. And people bring that up all the time to me also.

Another thing I really liked about that movie is there were a lot of guy fans but I had a lot of women fans too. That's what I really liked. John sort of made this woman still very much a woman but who could take care of herself. I wasn't a woman seen running around with lip gloss and false eyelashes. John was just so reality-based with everything. Even when I was injured with my finger during filming, John was like, 'Oh Valeria!' instead of 'Oh Sandahl, are you okay?'

TAFs: Oh yes, your cut finger. That was some big clumsy German guy, wasn't it?

Sandahl: Yes, it was where it should have been a stuntman, but they were in a hurry to get the shot and you saw the guy blank in the sword fight and that's why there were no finger guards on my sword initially and later they put them on.

TAFs: Sounds gross. Could you see bone?

Sandahl: Yeah, look at my finger. (She puts her finger in my face. Her scare looks surprising like the one on my own finger).

Sandahl: So the tendons were all severed. They stitched it up really well and I remembered that I did some work behind my back and kept it hidden. But it was a really bad injury and when the cast saw it, they were like 'don't look! don't look!' And I'm glad I didn't until they
were stitching it up. So there's that and the scene where my hair caught on fire. You know the scene where we're trying to get the princess and I'm crawling on the floor with the candle. I had this long hair and all of the sudden I see the cameraman and everyone
yelling 'CUT! CUT!' and everyone is running at me and I don't understand... but my hair got caught on fire. So there were some fun things like that. Like poor Arnie with the dogs that got him. But I do remember John saying, 'You want to jump on a tornado and go for a
ride' and that's really what it was.

TAFs: You had some nice passionate screen time. Was Conan good in bed?

Sandahl: John would say 'Action' and you know, people's nerves come out... so when he said 'Action', we both bursted out laughing. He sent us off the set, Then we tried it again and sure enough... hysterical laughing. Because it's like kissing your best friend. So then we'd try again (this time serious) and as we're doing it, John is yelling, 'Okay, roll her over, Arnold,...now her butt is showing so take the pillow and put it here, put it there. Okay now Sanahl, do this.' I mean, it was so by the numbers but when we saw it, it was quite nice!

TAFs: How often do you run into fans with Conan tattoos like us freaks? (CromIsGood now stands by me)

Sandahl: No, I have not seen that but this is my weird fan story about Conan. My sister was dating a stuntman, one of Terry Leonard's friends, that lived down in Manhattan beach. Well, I was with them one evening and when I left, I got a flat tire and there's a gas station
so I pull in and leave the car there while I have someone come and get me. In the morning, I called and said, 'Hi, I left my car there last night and I need to buy a new tire and have you put it on...my name is Sandahl Bergman.' And the guy is like, 'You know what, I'm not doing anything for you, HOW DARE you say you're Sandahl Bergman!' I'm like 'okay, I really am Sandahl Bergman' but he says he's sick of this shit and giving me a real hard time so I said, 'Okay, my name is Sandahl Bergman. Go in my glove compartment in my car and look at the registration.' he comes back 'Oh my god!' I go in there and the whole garage is covered in Valeria and Conan posters and pictures. He says, 'This is too weird, I play Arnold, my wife plays you and my son plays Subatai!' He called his wife. The wife and the kid had to come down and meet me before I left and it was just insane. Well, needles to say, I got the tire for free.

But I have experienced that over the years of people like 'oh my god, my son had posters on his wall. For me, my fans - the guys were like 12 or 13 years old and now when I run into them they're like your guy's ages and they're like 'I had such a crush on you.' And I'm
like, oh great, you were 12 and I was like 30. That's a good crush.

TAFs: Yes, I was 11. You better believe that you were my first girl.

TAFs: Ben Davidson wanted me to ask you how was it being a Kansas City Chief Cheerleader? Is that true?

Sandahl: (laughs) Yes, it was almost like a drill team experiment. My dad, unfortunately, had two girls. My dad was a huge sports fan so it was fun being out on the field.

TAFs: Do you still have the cheerleader outfit? You don't put it on at nights occasionally and bust out the pom poms and so on?

Sandahl: No, no, no. But I certainly loved that experience. I still love football and I'm still a die-hard fan.

TAFs: What do you think of this Conan remake nonsense?

Sandahl: I mean, why is this other Conan being done? I don't know, but I think fans will be very disappointed in it. I'm really quite sick of all the new special effects. It means nothing to me. The audience is savvy now to know about all of that. And we didn't have that in Conan the Barbarian. We didn't need it. Just a few little effects made it interesting.

TAFs: What are your top 3 Arnold movies?

Sandahl: Well, I love the Terminator. I just love that. Predator and Commando. But I wasn't a fan of the ones he'd do with the kids: Kindergarten Cop. He's a very funny person but I just like his one- liner things. There are very few people that pull that off well. Clint
Eastwood is another. Arnold just has that humor about him. My favorite funny story about Arnold was in Spain when he's with his entourage of guys, Sven and everybody...we'd all go to dinner at a really great restaurant but they'd make big penises out of napkins and leave them on the table. It was so embarrassing. There'd be this napkin penises after walking away from a wonderful meal. Arnold was a character. Between him and John, Conan was just one of those projects where I'd always think 'am I getting paid for this' because it was too much fun. It was like a family.

TAFs: Thank you so much Sandahl. You're still awesome. Can I have a hug?

Sandahl: Oh Randy, You bet!

To find more information about her next appearence click HERE!

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Randy Jennings

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