Barbarella

For the longest time Robert Rodriguez had been associated with a possible remake of Barbarella, a erotic space adventure based on the 60’s comic strip by artist Jean Claude Forest who’s influence is still felt in French Sci-Fi strips
(left side: Barbarella by Forest; on the right: La Survivante, by Paul Gillon who created Les Naufragés du Temps together with Forest in ’64)

















Personally I tend to shy whenever there’s talk of some remake but this is one of the few I’ve actually been looking forward to, because for one Barbarella is not that ‘classic’ a classic and I welcomed the thought of Rodriguez at the helm, the fast paced style and quirkiness of his earlier movies made him stand out to me as the perfect choice to revitalize this little pearl of trash-cinema.

But early last month news had it that Rodriguez left the project (Robert Luketic director of “21” is currently rumoured to take over) and with him no longer attached to the movie the question is on again who will star in the role once made famous by free love and happiness icon Jane Fonda?
I got used to the idea of Rose McGowan in the role of the sexy space-agent, I think that could fit her like a glove so here’s hoping that she’s still on board. As an aside: The character I can’t see McGowan play is Red Sonja, I keep thinking this to be a role that would have better befitted someone like Kate Beckinsale, who I in turn wouldn’t have cast as Barbarella although rumour has it that she had set her heart on that part.

Now, who else was part of the name dropping game so far?
We have Sienna Miller (of ho-hum fame?) and Erica Durance (of Smallville fame), also Drew Barrymore is said to have had plans to produce a remake in ’99 already with herself in the starring role, that would sure have been fun.
And on MTV.com it says:

“that Universal didn’t want McGowan at all, preferring instead a bigger name
actress like Jessica Alba or Nicole Kidman.”

Klick for full version

For more name dropping fun go here and the German site Moviefans.de has a nice run down of various news* regarding the Barbarella remake troughout the last years.
*The main article is in German but they link to news from various English sources.

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