Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Barbarella

6/20/12 - Barbarella will move to television instead of the movies from Nicolas Winding Refn and producers Gaumont International Television and Martha De Laurentiis, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Refn will direct and executive produce the series alongside De Laurentiis and co-executive producers Julien Forest and Jean-Marc Lofficier.  Refn called Barbarella “one of the ultimate counter-cultural characters” and said “I look forward to bringing this unique character to life for a new generation of fans.”

8/7/09 - Joe Gazzam has been tapped to write a screenplay for a new version of Barbarella, the sci-fi character immortalized by Jane Fonda in the 1968 original film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Robert Luketic is attached to direct the sci-fi action-adventure, with original producer Dino De Laurentiis on board to produce the update along with his wife, Martha De Laurentiis.  Robert Rodriguez came on the project, which was then set up at Universal, in May 2007 with an eye to making it a vehicle for Rose McGowan. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote the script, but the studio and director reportedly could not agree on where to shoot. After the parting of ways, a new direction for Barbarella was sought.  Barbarella centers on a female mercenary who roams the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality.

6/3/09 - Entertainment Weekly reports that director Robert Luketic is with Dino De Laurentiis' company (which owns the rights to the original property) to develop a new version of Barbarella; Sin City director Robert Rodriguez turned down the project because he wanted to stay in Austin with his family and not travel to Germany, where it would have shot.

04/15/08 - Rose McGowan is expected to play the title character in Robert Rodriguez's Barbarella remake and that the movie is heavily into preproduction.  Producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis have completed a rights deal that will allow them to reinvent Barbarella.  In the original film, Jane Fonda played the title character as a kittenish sexpot.  In the remake, the writers will make Barbarella a free, modern gal who survives in a futuristic world through her intelligence, fighting skills and sexuality.

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