Barbarella comes again...

[Hunter Rider]

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/827/827975p1.html

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

US, October 17, 2007 - 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.

 

[gkokujin]

well damn.

 

[green]

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/04/11/exclusive-rose-mcgowan-says-shes-still-barbarella/

EXCLUSIVE: Rose McGowan Says She’s Still ‘Barbarella’
0 Comments | Published by Shawn Adler on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 11:16 am.
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.”

 

[PyroChamber]

I guess it would make sense for Rodriguez to have his woman star as the title character.

 

[Rac]

She's dyed her hair already.

 

[green]

DEAD...
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/05/05/exclusive-robert-rodriguezs-barbarella-adaptation-is-dead/

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Barbarella’ Adaptation Is Dead
Published by Eric Ditzian on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 4:36 pm.
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…

 

[Rac]

Aw, man.

 

[Majik1387]

In a way I'm sad, but in a way I'm happy we didn't get Heavy Metal Barbarella.

Can't wait to see the concept art though.

 

[Figs]

I would have preferred a Heavy Metal Barbarella if that meant it was more for adults.

If there are no sex scenes or nudity in this film you might as well stick to the original.

 

[Nivek]

Honestly, Rodriguez is slipping in my personal opinion of him with him trying to cast Rose in every damn project.

Just do Sin City 2 or Machete Rob. Those are the only two projects out of the 10 you've mentioned over the last two years anyone even gives a $**t about.

 

[Majik1387]

Honestly, Rodriguez is slipping in my personal opinion of him with him trying to cast Rose in every damn project.

Just do Sin City 2 or Machete Rob. Those are the only two projects out of the 10 you've mentioned over the last two years anyone even gives a $**t about.

Ahem, Jetsons is still on peoples minds.

 

[Nivek]

F the Jetsons. Hell, it's been at least 20 years since the cartoon was aired regularly on tv.

Sin City or Machete. Even Predators sounds interesting, just freaking do something already. Preferably, without Mr. Mansons rejects...

In case your wondering, I've been irked about Robert since he sat on the Conan property, then they gave it to Ratner...

 

[Octoberist]

Robert tends to sit on a lot of projects.

For example, where's Mad Man the movie (based on the comic book by Mike Allred)?

 

[Rac]

I think every director sits on a lot of projects, the difference just is that RR likes to talk about them, like his buddy QT and Guillermo del Toro.

 

[green]

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=8385

Robert Luketic Taking on Barbarella
Source:Entertainment Weekly June 2, 2009

Entertainment Weekly reports that director Robert Luketic (Monster-in-Law, Legally Blonde) is working with Dino De Laurentiis' company to develop an update of Barbarella at a new studio. A previous version of the project at Universal had Robert Rodriguez attached to direct, with Rose McGowan starring.

"It will be a big intergalactic adventure with a sexy twist," a source close to the project told the magazine.

"Barbarella" made her debut in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest, and her adventures have been published around the world. The first film version, starring Jane Fonda produced by De Laurentiis, was released in 1968.

 

[Majik1387]

Well Legally Blonde was good, but Monster In Law was kind of a guilty pleasure, however it did star the original Barbarella, so who knows.

 

[Rac]

Gee, what a wonderful replacement for Rodriguez.