Sydney Sweeney's Barbarella Remake Recruits One Of The Best Directors Alive

A fun game those of legal drinking age can play while watching Roger Vadim's surreal/sexy 1968 Eurotrash space romp "Barbarella": take a drink every time Barbarella (Jane Fonda) changes costumes. One will be blindingly intoxicated by the 20-minute mark. "Barbarella" takes place in the distant future wherein the President of Earth (Claude Dauphin) has tasked the title heroine, a freelance space captain, to locate and retrieve Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea) a scientist who has invented the positronic ray, a weapon of massive destructive power. Barbarella must trek through a picaresque adventure, stopping to be savaged by killer dolls, locked into an orgasm machine (!), and to befriend a friendly angel (John Philip Law). The film was based on the bawdy 1966 French comic by Jean-Claude Forest.

Yes, the band Duran Duran got their name from "Barbarella."

Back in October 2022, it was announced that Sony was developing a remake of "Barbarella," and that Sydney Sweeney would play the titular character. According to a new report from Deadline, however, some additional information on the project is now available. Edgar Wright is "in talks" to direct (he hasn't signed on yet), while writers Jane Goldman and Honey Ross have been approached to pen the script.

Wright is deeply beloved for his Cornetto Trilogy of films: "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," and "The World's End." He also caused major stirs with his films "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," adapted from a comic by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and his documentary "The Sparks Brothers," which aided in the revival of the 1980s New Wave band Sparks. His two most recent films were the music-based car chase movie "Baby Driver" and the '60s scare film "Last Night in Soho." 

Given his verve and Raimiesque energy, Wright is a good choice for "Barbarella."

Deadline pointed out that Wright is currently busy overseeing a reboot of "The Running Man" starring Glen Powell, so the production timeline for the "Barbarella" remake is as yet unknown.

Goldman is perhaps best known for her collaborations with director Matthew Vaughn, having written the screenplays for "Kick-Ass," "X-Men: First Class," and two of the three "Kingsman" movies. She also wrote the 2020 remake of "Rebecca," the 2012 ghost story "The Woman in Black," and Tim Burton's "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children." Ross, meanwhile, has worked on the TV series "Everything I Know About Love."

Sony is likely eager to re-team with Sweeney, as her recent R-rated rom-com "Anyone But You," an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" that paired her opposite Powell, was a massive sleeper hit, having earned over $200 million at the box office on a budget of $25 million. Wright also provided a massive hit for Sony in with "Baby Driver," which made almost $227 million on a budget of $34 million.

Because Wright is busy and Sweeney is one of the hottest actors currently working, no firm deals have yet manifested, but movement has been made. One can rest assured that an Edgar Wright-directed version of "Barbarella" would be both energetic and attentive to the history of British cinema.

The original "Barbarella" is currently available to rent on multiple streaming platforms.