The Sydney Sweeney-starring remake of the 1968 classic Barbarella is getting more talent attached to it. Today, Deadline broke the news that Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) is in talks with Sony to direct the remake, with writers Jane Goldman and Honey Ross (The Kingsmen: Secret Service, the recent X-men movies) also in discussions to pen the script.
While this remake won’t go into production in the near future—Wright has to complete his work on The Running Man starring Glen Powell first—the negotiations suggest that the upcoming Barbarella film is one that Sony hopes will be a blockbuster.
We don’t know much about this reboot, which makes sense since it sounds like it doesn’t even have a script yet. The original sci-fi film, of course, starred Jane Fonda in the titular role and was based on a French comic book series with the same name. In it, Fonda plays a human space traveler sent to stop the evil Durand Durand. There are sexual escapades along the way, including an “evil” device from Durand called the Exsexsive Machine that kills people with pleasure.
It will be interesting to see a contemporary rendition of the source material.
No news yet on additional casting or when the movie will go into production, though it sounds like it will be at least several months until it gets to that point.