Barbarella

[MacGuffin]

Barbarella's New Man
Hannibal helmer to direct update.

While promoting his new film Hannibal Rising in London, veteran producer Dino De Laurentiis disclosed that he was reteaming with that film's director, Peter Webber, for an updating of the cult classic Barbarella.

De Laurentiis, who also produced the 1968 original, sees Barbarella as a "female James Bond -- in outer space." The movie will be financed by Tarak Ben Ammar.

The producer also revealed that Barbarella will be shot at Morocco's CLA studios, according to Variety.

Peter Webber previously directed the art house fave Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Scarlett Johansson. How's about that sexy starlet playing the title role in Barbarella? We think she'd be a great, er, fit for the outfit.

[Kal]

You'd think they fucking learn something before investing so much in a movie... this one is fucking easy.

Elektra? bomb
Aeon Flux? bomb
Catwoman? disaster

And that is only the last couple of years... where is the fucking business comparable to make this a hit? Cause we will agree its not going to win an Oscar.

[Pubrick]

i don't think barbarella is supposed to be a comic book hero, or have any special abilities, she just fucks dudes.

[polkablues]

she just fucks dudes.

...in SPACE.

[The Perineum Falcon]

And that's all I'm asking for.

SOLD!

[Kal]

Then even more of a reason, why the fuck are they even doing this?? Didnt you ever see Emanuelle in Space on Cinemax??

[MacGuffin]

i don't think barbarella is supposed to be a comic book hero, or have any special abilities, she just fucks dudes.

she just fucks dudes.

...in SPACE.

And that's all I'm asking for.

SOLD!

Now I'm SOLD!

Beckinsale as Barbarella?
Rumor mill offers up new frontrunner.

Now that producer Dino De Laurentiis has tapped Casino Royale screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to script the retelling of Barbarella, rumors are circulating about who might succeed Jane Fonda as the sexy sci-fi icon.

The buzz years ago was that Lindsay Lohan and Drew Barrymore were being eyed to play the title role. But now the British tabloid (yeah, yeah) Daily Express is claiming to know who the current frontrunner is to play Barbarella: English actress Kate Beckinsale.

"Jane Fonda made the Barbarella role very much her own all those years ago and she's bound to be a tough act to follow," said the Express' unnamed insider. "But the feeling is that Kate has just the right combination of beauty, humour and acting talent for the part."

[MacGuffin]

Rodriguez to direct 'Barbarella'
Remake written by 'Casino's' Purvis, Wade
Source: Variety

Robert Rodriguez will helm the "Barbarella" redo for a 2008 Universal release.

The "Planet Terror" helmer is working with scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade on the remake of the 1968 film starring Jane Fonda as a futuristic mercenary. That version was produced by Dino De Laurentiis, who is producing the remake with Martha De Laurentiis.

Barbarella first appeared seven years earlier in a French comicbook written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest. De Laurentiis recently completed an acquisition deal with his son Julien.

"I love this iconic character and all that she represents, and I'm truly excited by the challenge of inviting a new audience into her universe," Rodriguez said.

Dino De Laurentiis hinted at the flavor of the remake: "In our vision, the future is female, and I can't wait to introduce 'Barbarella' to a new generation of moviegoers," he said.

Purvis and Wade co-wrote "Casino Royale" and recently finished scripting the next installment in the Bond franchise, "Bond 22."

[Ravi]

Dino De Laurentiis said, "Y'all thought I was dead but I'm not!"

[MacGuffin]

Barbarella Seeks New Home
Did Uni drop Rodriguez remake over budget or Rose?

Universal Pictures has dropped director Robert Rodriguez's planned remake of the sci-fi cult classic Barbarella, leading the filmmaker to shop the project to other studios. But Universal's reason for backing out of the film is a matter of dispute, as a new report that suggests it was either over a ballooning budget or the casting of Rodriguez's girlfriend Rose McGowan in the title role.

According to an unnamed source for The New York Observer, "It's sort of embarrassing for everyone involved. ... No one thinks Rose can carry the movie, but Robert won't listen." The paper adds that producer Dino De Laurentiis "wants to back Robert and his vision. But Robert's vision is blurred by Rose." The studio reportedly wants a bigger name star such as Halle Berry or Jessica Alba.

Rodriguez disputes this claim, saying they were "blown over" by McGowan's audition and citing the project's ballooning budget as the reason for Universal's pullout. "Universal had initially signed on for $60 million," Rodriguez explained, "but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million, and they had just financed a Will Ferrell movie [Land of the Lost] that was a $130 million and they even cut that down to $100."

The filmmaker says Universal is still willing to fund the film for $60 million, but Rodriguez believes he can't make Barbarella for that price because of all the special effects that are required.

[MacGuffin]

EXCLUSIVE: Rose McGowan Says She's Still 'Barbarella'
Source: MTV

Last August, it was all but assured that "Grindhouse" babe Rose McGowan was set to star as the title character, an ultra-hot space vixen, in Robert Rodriguez's remake of "Barbarella."

Or so we thought.

Because soon came the budget disputes. And the posturing. And the claims that Universal didn't want McGowan at all, preferring instead a bigger name actress like Jessica Alba or Nicole Kidman.

Turns out, we got it right the first time, McGowan insisted, telling MTV News that she was still very much signed on to play the lead in the upcoming film.

"[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."

Not just the contracts, either, but sets and costumes, and a whole "lot of pre-production work," McGowan revealed, hinting that the flick is actually quite a bit further along than previously speculated.

"Half of the sets have been built. The costumes are done," the actress confessed, adding with a laugh that she's "even got my spaceships. I've got part of a spaceship built for me!"

At the moment, in fact, the only impediment to filming isn't the actress in the lead – but all those other actresses everywhere else.

"['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."

The original movie followed Jane Fonda as she roamed the galaxy fighting evil and looking really, really sexy.

McGowan, for one, can't wait to step into those knee-high boots, calling herself a big "fan of the original."

Any pressure to live up to the legend?

"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."

[MacGuffin]

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Rodriguez's 'Barbarella' Adaptation Is Dead
Source: MTV

Like the tides and Lindsay Lohan's film career, movie projects come and go. One project we're particularly sad to see go bye-bye is Robert Rodriguez's planned adaptation of the schlocky, sexy 1968 sci-fi flick, "Barbarella."

Yes, MTV News learned exclusively during a conversation with the director to promote the Blu-ray version of "Sin City" that his "Barbarella" is officially dead.

The film had been in development for years. Back in 2007, Universal Pictures was set to make the picture with Rose McGowan taking over the lead role from original star Jane Fonda. But the budget was said to have swelled past $80 million dollars and Universal balked. Rodriguez went in search of alternate financing.

"It came to the point where [a company from] Germany offered us a $70 million budget, which would have been by far the biggest budget I ever would have had for a movie," Rodriguez told MTV News. "But I had to shoot it in Germany and post it in Germany. Nothing against Germany, but I have five kids and I was like, 'God, I don't know if we can do that. I don't know if I can be away that long.'"

Rodriguez reluctantly said no and moved on to other projects. "It was a real bummer," he admitted. "We had all this artwork and screen tests of what it would look like. It was a really cool, R-rated, sexy—almost like that [1981 animated] movie, 'Heavy Metal'—version of a 'Star Wars' movie. Something that no one ever could get to see. It was gonna be really great."

The director hopes to one day release the artwork just so fans can see what he was planning—and so those who questioned his decision to revisit the original will see the error of their ways. "People said, 'Why are you doing 'Barbarella?'" he told us. "And I showed them the artwork and explained it. They would go, 'Ooooh, okay!'"

The decision to make Barbarella stemmed from his work with Frank Miller on "Sin City" in 2005. "After 'Sin City,' I was looking through all my comic collection to see, 'Well, what else might I make?' The only other thing that I had tons of were Heavy Metal magazines. I said, 'I wanna make a Heavy Metal movie!' And 'Barbarella' fit the bill because you could have everything in that movie."

At least, that was the plan...

[Gold Trumpet]

Too bad because gratuitous nudity of Rose McGowan would be welcome. Robert Rodriguez used to annoy me because his films convinced a decent percentage of people that he aspired to be something other than cool, but he's now unabashed about his identity so all the more power to him making fun, ridiculous movies.

[pete]

wow imagine being offered that much money to make something that cool and turning all that down by saying "bummer".

[diggler]

families ruin everything