Back in the late 1960s – 1968 to be exact – Jane Fonda starred in a hit movie based on a French comic book by the name of Barbarella. The movie, which was also entitled Barbarella, went on to be a huge success for Fonda in part because she starred in the movie, which was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadi. Now, Hollywood plans to remake Fonda’s hit movie from decades past, but instead of using the aging Hollywood celebrity, they will be using Euphoria star Sydney Sweeny who is an American actress who has also appeared in Sharp Objects, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Everything Sucks!
The remake of Fonda’s Barbarella was announced in October. The movie will be made in partnership with Sony Pictures. Although details of the new movie are sparse – we don’t yet know who will be directing it or who else will star in the movie besides Sydney Sweeny – but we do know that Jane Fonda is pissed that Hollywood is trying to outshine her role in the movie from the late 1960s.
In a conversation with the Hollywood Reporter, Jane Fonda confessed that the last thing she wants to do is think about the remake of Barbarella because she doesn’t think it is going to be nearly as successful as it was during her time staring in the titular role.
“I try not to [think about it],” Fonda told the publication. “Because I worry about what it’s going to be.”
In addition, Fonda did not know how Sony Pictures was going to be able to remake Barbarella with a feminist twist while featuring Sydney Sweeny (above). Back when she was in the original movie, the producers did not want the movie to be feminist. They just wanted Fonda to look sexy while kicking ass.
“I had an idea of how to do it that [original producer] Dino De Laurentiis when he was still alive, wouldn’t listen to,” she noted. “But it could have been a truly feminist movie.”
The plot of the original movie from the 1960s was set in the 41st century. Jane Fonda played the main character, Barbarella, who is searching for a scientist named Durand Durand, who is played by the original actor Milo O’Shea, because the mad scientist has created a Positronic Ray, which could cause mass destruction across the entire world.
Although Fonda’s original movie was not a huge hit when it hit theaters in the 1960s, it has since amassed quite the cult following thanks to Fonda’s popularity after the mistakes she made while visiting Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Thanks to the movie’s sex and eroticism, Jane Fonda was propelled to be one of the hottest stars of the 1960s and a real-life sex symbol for millions of people. Several people have tried to revive Barbarella over the years, especially after it reached cult classic status. One proposal was for a sequel to the original movie, which would have been entitled Barbarella Goes Down. The movie would have featured Fonda in the same role but would have been released in the early 2000s with the directorial support of Robert Rodriguez while also starring Rose McGowan. But this movie was never made.
Do you think the Barbarella remake will be popular?