BARBARELLA TV SERIES

Deadline reported today that Gaumont International's Barbarella television series has landed at Amazon Studios. The project is being produced by Nicolas Refn and Martha De Laurentiis (widow of original producer Dino). Skyfall scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have written the pilot. Apparently the producers are currently looking for a show-runner. The news comes after years of development; even Drew Barrymore was mentioned at one point as a possible star for a big-screen project. Barbarella is based on a sexy sci-spy character created by Jean-Claude Forest in 1962, which was later adapted into a cult-film in 1968 by Roger Vadim and starring Jane Fonda (below), John Phillip Law (Danger Diabolik), David Hemmings (Blow-Up), and Anita Pallenberg (Performance). Like most modern remakes of 1960s properties, I hope the show doesn't become too self-conscious, or worse, a parody. Too often, retro-styled films go out of their way to capture some of the style and sexuality of an old show, but none of the intelligence. In this case, however, the original Barbarella film played like a poor remake and could actually use a little more intelligent writing and direction. If they bring any inspiration from the 1968 movie, I hope it's the playful approach to the costume designs- maybe Paco Rabanne is available. I have great trust in the writers and remain optimistic. To my mind, these guys wrote the smartest Bond screenplay in 50 years (and I'm a die-hard Classic 007/Connery fan). See my review of Skyfall here. Good luck to Gaumont, Amazon, and the creative team! More news as it comes.

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