Rose McGowan Says Robert Rodriguez's Barbarella Is Happening, Sets Built, Contracts Signed.

"You could have used a scantily pic."

Actress Rose McGowan tells MTV that "I've got part of a spaceship built for me!" In other words, she's the pale, titular character in Robert Rodriguez's big budget remake of Barbarella and the doubters can eat cake. We've known about her attachment to the role made famous by a pin-up era Jane Fonda for eons now, but last year rumors persisted that Universal wasn't copacetic with her casting. Not so, she says. The only obstacle blocking her kitschy spaceship from flight is the looming possibility of a SAG strike...

"Half of the sets have been built. The costumes are done," McGowan confessed. ...['Barbarella'] wouldn't be able to be finished before June which is when the next strike might happen," McGowan said of delays in the face of a possible SAG strike. "It's a longer shoot."

She calls the rumors (and tabloid gossip) about a beef with Universal bollocks...

"[The news that I was out] was really irritating because I know all the people over there and obviously it wasn't true. It was very malicious and there was no proof," McGowan said of the rumors. "Oftentimes these things have basis in truth but this didn't. I have contracts to prove it."

Will her and her mate's remake surpass the original, a movie that teenagers are probably as familiar with as the identity of Spinderella? She gives a big "very."

"The original doesn't have a lot to go on plot-wise. It's one thing to do a remake of something that could have been much better storywise even if it was fantastic visually. It's another thing to remake something flawless," McGowan said. "That way if yours isn't that good at least yours is better than that one."

So what do you think? Can this flick work? Execs have to be haunted by the dreadful performance and reception to female-lead genre movies like Elektra and Catwoman, both of which had bigger stars. And camp is really hard to sell. This could easily be Perm: The Movie to a lot guys if it doesn't connect in terms of special effects and sex appeal. Overall: bad vibes.