The idea of remaking Barbarella has beeing floating around for several years now, and although for a while the new version seemed to have stalled, it looks like things are back on track now with the announcement that Joe Gazzam has been hired to writed the screenplay for the reboot.
A couple of years ago Robert Rodriguez was planning to make the movie with an eye to it being a vehicle for girlfriend Rose MacGowan. A script was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but things fell to bits over an argument between Universal and Rodrigiez over where to shoot the movie (Rodriguez wanted to stay in Texas, Universal want the cheaper environs of Europe).
However Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth) has now come onboard as a replacement director and Gazzam will be writing a new script. Barbarella centers on a female mercenary who roams the universe int the distant future, undertaking missions that require fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new take on the iconic character will not be as campy as the infamous Jane Fonda 1968 version, though it will keep the sexuality, but the focus will be on the adventure.
However there are still a couple of obstacles before it gets to the screen. At the moment producer Dino De Laurentiis doesn’t have any studio backing for this bash at a remake, although he’s hoping to shop it around once he has a script. Even then it’s only likely they’ll get the cash if they can find a suitably curvaceous star to take the lead role.