Jane Fonda has thoughts about the upcoming Sony Pictures remake of her 1968 science fiction film Barbarella, or rather she tries not to think of it.
The remake, announced in October, replaces Sydney Sweeney from Euphoria and The White Lotus in Fonda’s titular role as Barbarella. A box office flop about a sexy, 41st-century astronaut out to stop Durand Durand from destroying the universe (a mad scientist villain, not the band), the film launched Fonda to sex symbol status in the 60s. It eventually became a camp cult classic, while Fonda would star in acclaimed films such as Klute, Coming Home, and The China Syndrome. Throughout her career, Fonda has won multiple acting awards, including two Oscars, two Academy Awards, and seven Golden Globes.
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Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Fonda recently revealed her thoughts on the Barbarella project featuring Sweeney. “I try not to [think about it],” said Fonda. “Because I worry about what it’s going to be,” Fonda added that she had envisioned a Barbarella remake in the past. Indicative of her years as a 70s activist and well-known for her infamous 1970 airport arrest photo wearing the tomboyish Klute haircut for her movie, Fonda said that her remake would have been a decidedly feminist one. “I had an idea of how to do it that [original Barbarella producer] Dino De Laurentiis, when he was still alive, wouldn’t listen to.” While we’ll never know how Fonda’s vision played out, she insists that it “could have been a truly feminist movie.”
Synonymous With The 60s
Fonda was known early for her controversial nude photos and her controversial activism throughout her career. This includes her protest and speaking engagements against the Vietnam War and for Civil Rights, as well as her highly publicized marriage to SDS activist Tom Hayden in 1973. Coming Home features her in a film about a wounded war veteran. Her film The China Syndrome ties closely into the current Anti-Nuclear movement, while 9 to 5 addressed women in the workplace.
Synonymous with the 60s, the original 1968 Barbarella film, Directed by Fonda’s husband at the time, Roger Vadim, is based on a French comic-book series and is well known for its sexualized sci-fi themes, including the skimpily-clad Fonda and an “Exsexsive” device that can cause fatal levels of pleasure. In addition to starring in the film, Emmy-nominated actress Sydney Sweeney will executive produce the Barbarella remake. It is yet unclear which direction the film or Sweeney as the new Queen of the Galaxy will take in revisiting any pre-feminist, sexploitation aspects of the film.
Details have yet to be released regarding the writer or director of the new Barbarella project.
