Megan Fox Reportedly Offered Role As Red Sonja
During their relationship, Rose McGowan and Robert Rodriguez were planning to remake a couple films, notably Barbarella and Red Sonja. The latter is one that is still on the boards, to come after the new version of Conan, albeit with all new talent. Now, in addition to some recent interviews that shed light on what's been holding the movie up, there is a report that Megan Fox could be the lead for the film. Is it likely to happen? Not really, but it will get some Robert E. Howard fans in a lather regardless.
Pajiba is hearing that all previous versions of Red Sonja are scrapped and that McGowan is gone. All of which had been more or less evident. Milennium Films is looking for another writer to rewrite the last draft by David N. White, and further talent to follow.
This all follows on a Robert Rodriguez interview from SXSW, where he said that Sonja wasn't a Troublemaker production, but rather "it belonged to another company that had financing problems. They had to wait until they made a couple of other movies first," he explained. "They're actually waiting until they make the Conan movie before they do that – to see how that works for them."
As for stars, an offer is out to Megan Fox, according to Pajiba's sources. That's just an offer, and she could turn it down just as easily as any actor does all the time. It might not even be a big deal — if you're going to cast a film about a warrior princess that historically wears a chainmail bikini, of course you put an offer out to Megan Fox. Is there much chance she'll take it? Probably not.
But if you've been rabidly clutching that old Comic Con promo image of McGowan as Red Sonja, might be time to loosen the grip. Or just clutch in the privacy of your own home.
Final note: the more famous version of the character was created for Marvel Comics, but the origin is in Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya. We don't know if the new film will now be closer to the Marvel version of the character, or to the Howard, which is a totally different, non-bikini-wearing heroine.