True confession: I’ve never seen the 1968 BARBARELLA starring Jane Fonda. It’s sitting in my Netflix queue like homework and perhaps I’ll get to it one day, but it’s just not high enough on my list of movie-watching priorities. I’m sure it’s got some fun sci-fi nostalgia, but I’m in no rush. However, the news that SKYFALL writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are penning a new TV series of the property for Gaumont with DRIVE director Nicolas Winding Refn directing has me all sorts of interested.
Based on the character created by Jean-Claude Forest, BARBARELLA follows the exploits of a “young woman who travels from planet to planet and has numerous adventures, often involving sex (the aliens she meets often seduce her, and she also experiments with a ‘machine excessive’ or ‘orgasmotron.'”
Hmmm. Maybe I should move this to the top of the list?
I’m more interested to see what (or why) Refn is doing this project as it seems so outside the realm of his gritty and brutal style, but he’s certainly got the eye for it. I can see his style from VALHALLA RISING translating nicely into the sci-fi genre. No word on shooting dates or when the show would premiere. We’ll update as it develops.
Refn’s next film, the Ryan-Gosling led ONLY GOD FORGIVES is slated for release sometime in 2013.