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Barbarella (film)
Encyclopedia
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film
based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French
Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim
and stars Jane Fonda
, who was Vadim's wife at the time.
) is assigned by the President of Earth (Claude Dauphin
) to retrieve Doctor Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea
) from the planet Tau Ceti
in order to save the Earth. Durand Durand is the inventor of the Positronic Ray, a weapon. Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space, so there is the potential for the weapon to fall into the wrong hands. Donning the first of many outfits (Barbarella is frequently tearing them and changing into something even more provocative each time), Barbarella sets out to find the missing scientist. She crashes on Tau Ceti, on an icy plain.
Barbarella is soon knocked unconscious by two mysterious girls who hit her on the forehead with a snowball with a piece of ice inside and then capture her. Barbarella is taken to the wreckage of a spaceship called the Alpha 1 (presumably this is Durand Durand's ship. Barbarella's own vessel is the Alpha 7). Inside the wreckage, she is tied up and several wild-looking children emerge from within the ship. They set out several dolls which have razor sharp teeth. As the dolls begin to bite her, Barbarella faints but is rescued by Mark Hand (Ugo Tognazzi
), the Catchman, who patrols the ice looking for errant children. While taking her back to her ship, Barbarella offers to reward him. Mark Hand asks to make love to Barbarella. She is surprised when she realizes he means "the bed" or "the old-fashioned way". Barbarella reveals that people on Earth no longer have penetrative intercourse, but make love by consuming exaltation transference pills, and pressing their palms together when their "psychocardiograms are in perfect harmony". Hand prefers the bed, and Barbarella agrees, insisting there's no point to doing it that way. Hand's vessel makes long loops around Barbarella's crashed vessel while the two make love (offscreen), and when it finally comes to a stop, Barbarella is blissfully humming. Hand repairs her ship, and Barbarella departs, promising to return, and agreeing that doing things the old-fashioned way is sometimes best.
Her ship burrows through the planet, coming out next to a vast labyrinth. Upon emerging from her ship, she is knocked unconscious by a rockslide. She is found by a blind angel
named Pygar (John Phillip Law
). He states he is the last of the ornithanthropes, and that he has lost the ability to fly. Barbarella discovers the labyrinth is a prison for people cast out of Sogo, the City of Night. Pygar introduces her to Professor Ping (Marcel Marceau
), who offers to repair her ship. Ping also notes that Pygar is capable of flight, but merely lacks the will. Pygar saves Barbarella from the Black Guards who occasionally patrol the labyrinth. Barbarella shows her thanks by making love to Pygar. As she hums to herself in his nest afterwards, caressing herself with one of his feathers, Pygar soars overhead, having regained his will to fly. Pygar flies Barbarella to Sogo, using some of the weaponry Barbarella has brought with her to destroy the city's guards. Sogo is a decadent city ruled over by the Great Tyrant and powered by a liquid essence of evil called the Mathmos
. Barbarella is briefly separated from Pygar, and meets a one-eyed wench who saves her from being assaulted by two of Sogo's residents. Barbarella soon reunites with Pygar and the two are taken by the Concierge (O'Shea) to meet the Great Tyrant (who turns out to have been the one-eyed wench). Pygar is left to become the Great Tyrant's plaything, while Barbarella is placed in a cage, to be pecked to death by birds (something Barbarella says is "much too poetic a way to die"). Barbarella is rescued by Dildano (David Hemmings
), leader of the resistance to the Great Tyrant. Barbarella eagerly offers to reward Dildano, and begins to remove her torn suit, but Dildano says he has the pill, and wants to experience love the Earth way (literally a hair curling experience for Barbarella). Dildano offers to help Barbarella find Durand Durand in exchange for her help in deposing the Great Tyrant. Barbarella is given an invisible key to the Tyrant's Chamber of Dreams, the only place she is vulnerable.
Barbarella is captured by the Concierge, who announces it is his turn for some fun. She is placed inside the Excessive Machine (sometimes mistakenly called the Orgasmatron), a device played like an organ. As the Concierge begins to play, Barbarella experiences increasing pleasure, and her clothing is expelled from the machine. The Concierge tells her when they reach the crescendo, she will die of pleasure. He then begins to play faster and more furiously, while Barbarella writhes in ecstasy inside the machine. Eventually, the machine overloads and burns out, unable to keep up with her. Barbarella then discovers the Concierge is none other than Durand Durand, aged thirty years due to the Mathmos. Durand Durand traps Barbarella in the Tyrant's Chamber of Dreams, taking both keys and locking them inside. As he prepares to crown himself lord of Sogo, Dildano launches his revolution. Durand Durand uses his Positronic Ray to decimate the rebellion. The Great Tyrant then releases the Mathmos, which consumes all of Sogo and Durand Durand with it. Barbarella and the Great Tyrant are protected from the Mathmos by Barbarella's innate goodness. They emerge from the Mathmos to find Pygar (who, having rejected the Tyrant's earlier advances, had been thrown in the Mathmos, and who was similarly protected by his own goodness). Pygar then flies Barbarella and the Tyrant away from the Mathmos. When asked by Barbarella why he saved the Tyrant after everything she had done to him, Pygar responds, "An angel has no memory."
and Rosemary's Baby
to stay in France and star in Barbarella, which was being directed by her then husband Roger Vadim.
Sophia Loren
turned down the role of Barbarella.
in zero-gravity
.
The whole film is played in a tongue-in-cheek manner, especially when it comes to the frequent (but not explicit) sex scenes. The most controversial of those scenes involves Barbarella being tortured by the use of an organ-like instrument that delivers sexual pleasure in doses that can be lethal, although Barbarella survives the ordeal and is visibly disappointed when it is discovered she has overloaded the machine.
The film was simultaneously shot in French and English
. Some characters' lines were performed by the same actors in both languages; others were not. For instance, Fonda is fluent in French and performs her own lines for the French version, while Marcel Marceau
's lines are dubbed for the English film.
De Laurentiis returned to camp
science fiction, but with far less erotica, with the 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon
.
and Charles Fox
. Stylistically, the sound brought together a lounge music
aesthetic with psychedelic pop
. Bob Crewe himself provided the vocal for the memorable film closer "An Angel Is Love", and several songs were performed by The Glitterhouse, a New York-based psychedelic pop group that was produced by Crewe and recorded for his DynoVoice label. During his first European tour in 1967, Frank Zappa
had flown from Copenhagen
to Italy
to meet Vadim and Fonda in order to discuss the possibility of composing the music for the film, but this did not happen.
"blob" patterns that form much of the special effect
s in the film were created using an oil wheel projector, a popular visual effects device which was widely used for psychedelic
light shows
at rock concerts in the late 1960s and was also used in many other '60s movies, as well as in many anti-drug educational films.
s review stated that "Despite a certain amount of production dash and polish and a few silly-funny lines of dialogue, Barbarella isn't very much of a film. Based on what has been called an adult comic strip, the Dino De Laurentiis
production is flawed with a cast that is not particularly adept at comedy, a flat script, and direction which can't get this beached whale afloat." Despite this, in the years since its initial release, Barbarella has garnered a cult following
. It was re-released from 1977-1980 with a PG rating; the re-release found a bigger audience. Howard Stern
talked about watching the film while on LSD in his book Private Parts
. The film has garnered a 74% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
said that he would be open to making a sequel
with actresses Sherilyn Fenn
and Drew Barrymore
as the title role, yet nothing came of it.
The most serious planning of the long proposed remake began in early 2008. This remake would have been produced and released by Universal Studios, with one time James Bond
screenwriters Neal Purvis
and Robert Wade
penning the script, and Dino
and Martha De Laurentiis heading as producers.
Sin City
director Robert Rodriguez
was soon after announced as the slated director for the remake. Early candidates for the role of Barbarella were actresses Erica Durance
of the WB's Smallville
, Sienna Miller
, and Rodriguez's Grindhouse star Rose McGowan
. Later news articles confirmed that McGowan had been cast as the title role. Universal Studios eventually backed out of the movie with some news sources speculating that it was due to studio executives doubting McGowan's ability to carry a big budget movie and that the studio had slashed the budget after learning of McGowan winning the role. Rodriguez denied this, stating, "Universal had initially signed on for $60 million, but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million."
Due to Universal insisting on lowering the cost of the film and on recasting the role of Barbarella, Rodriguez shopped the remake to other studios in the hopes of gaining a larger budget allowance and retaining McGowan as Barbarella. Rodriguez has stated that the large budget needs stem from the fact that the majority of the movie takes place in outer space, and that "we don’t want the movie to look like the original." Rodriguez said he abandoned the project in May 2009 after he turned down a $70 million budget that required shooting in Germany. Expressing regret for the undone film, he thought he could not be away from his five children for as long as it would take if shot in Germany.
Although later news articles would attach director Robert Luketic
to the project, the film had not met its projected release date of summer 2010 and there are no active plans to produce the film.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
and stars Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, who was Vadim's wife at the time.
Plot
In an unspecified future (the video release states it is the year 40,000), Barbarella (Jane FondaJane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
) is assigned by the President of Earth (Claude Dauphin
Claude Dauphin (actor)
Claude Dauphin was a French actor. He appeared in over 130 films between 1930 and 1978.He was born in Corbeil-Essonnes, Essonne. His father was Maurice Étienne Legrand, a poet who wrote as Franc-Nohain, and who was the librettist for Maurice Ravel's opera L'heure espagnole.Dauphin married...
) to retrieve Doctor Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea
Milo O'Shea
-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...
) from the planet Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star. Tau Ceti is metal-deficient and so is thought to be less likely to...
in order to save the Earth. Durand Durand is the inventor of the Positronic Ray, a weapon. Earth is now a peaceful planet, and weapons are unheard of. Tau Ceti is an unknown region of space, so there is the potential for the weapon to fall into the wrong hands. Donning the first of many outfits (Barbarella is frequently tearing them and changing into something even more provocative each time), Barbarella sets out to find the missing scientist. She crashes on Tau Ceti, on an icy plain.
Barbarella is soon knocked unconscious by two mysterious girls who hit her on the forehead with a snowball with a piece of ice inside and then capture her. Barbarella is taken to the wreckage of a spaceship called the Alpha 1 (presumably this is Durand Durand's ship. Barbarella's own vessel is the Alpha 7). Inside the wreckage, she is tied up and several wild-looking children emerge from within the ship. They set out several dolls which have razor sharp teeth. As the dolls begin to bite her, Barbarella faints but is rescued by Mark Hand (Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life:Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.After his return in the native city in 1936, he...
), the Catchman, who patrols the ice looking for errant children. While taking her back to her ship, Barbarella offers to reward him. Mark Hand asks to make love to Barbarella. She is surprised when she realizes he means "the bed" or "the old-fashioned way". Barbarella reveals that people on Earth no longer have penetrative intercourse, but make love by consuming exaltation transference pills, and pressing their palms together when their "psychocardiograms are in perfect harmony". Hand prefers the bed, and Barbarella agrees, insisting there's no point to doing it that way. Hand's vessel makes long loops around Barbarella's crashed vessel while the two make love (offscreen), and when it finally comes to a stop, Barbarella is blissfully humming. Hand repairs her ship, and Barbarella departs, promising to return, and agreeing that doing things the old-fashioned way is sometimes best.
Her ship burrows through the planet, coming out next to a vast labyrinth. Upon emerging from her ship, she is knocked unconscious by a rockslide. She is found by a blind angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
named Pygar (John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law
John Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
). He states he is the last of the ornithanthropes, and that he has lost the ability to fly. Barbarella discovers the labyrinth is a prison for people cast out of Sogo, the City of Night. Pygar introduces her to Professor Ping (Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
), who offers to repair her ship. Ping also notes that Pygar is capable of flight, but merely lacks the will. Pygar saves Barbarella from the Black Guards who occasionally patrol the labyrinth. Barbarella shows her thanks by making love to Pygar. As she hums to herself in his nest afterwards, caressing herself with one of his feathers, Pygar soars overhead, having regained his will to fly. Pygar flies Barbarella to Sogo, using some of the weaponry Barbarella has brought with her to destroy the city's guards. Sogo is a decadent city ruled over by the Great Tyrant and powered by a liquid essence of evil called the Mathmos
Mathmos
Mathmos is a British company that sells lighting products, most famously the lava lamp invented by its founder Edward Craven Walker. It is headquartered in its factory in Poole, Dorset.-Company History:...
. Barbarella is briefly separated from Pygar, and meets a one-eyed wench who saves her from being assaulted by two of Sogo's residents. Barbarella soon reunites with Pygar and the two are taken by the Concierge (O'Shea) to meet the Great Tyrant (who turns out to have been the one-eyed wench). Pygar is left to become the Great Tyrant's plaything, while Barbarella is placed in a cage, to be pecked to death by birds (something Barbarella says is "much too poetic a way to die"). Barbarella is rescued by Dildano (David Hemmings
David Hemmings
David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....
), leader of the resistance to the Great Tyrant. Barbarella eagerly offers to reward Dildano, and begins to remove her torn suit, but Dildano says he has the pill, and wants to experience love the Earth way (literally a hair curling experience for Barbarella). Dildano offers to help Barbarella find Durand Durand in exchange for her help in deposing the Great Tyrant. Barbarella is given an invisible key to the Tyrant's Chamber of Dreams, the only place she is vulnerable.
Barbarella is captured by the Concierge, who announces it is his turn for some fun. She is placed inside the Excessive Machine (sometimes mistakenly called the Orgasmatron), a device played like an organ. As the Concierge begins to play, Barbarella experiences increasing pleasure, and her clothing is expelled from the machine. The Concierge tells her when they reach the crescendo, she will die of pleasure. He then begins to play faster and more furiously, while Barbarella writhes in ecstasy inside the machine. Eventually, the machine overloads and burns out, unable to keep up with her. Barbarella then discovers the Concierge is none other than Durand Durand, aged thirty years due to the Mathmos. Durand Durand traps Barbarella in the Tyrant's Chamber of Dreams, taking both keys and locking them inside. As he prepares to crown himself lord of Sogo, Dildano launches his revolution. Durand Durand uses his Positronic Ray to decimate the rebellion. The Great Tyrant then releases the Mathmos, which consumes all of Sogo and Durand Durand with it. Barbarella and the Great Tyrant are protected from the Mathmos by Barbarella's innate goodness. They emerge from the Mathmos to find Pygar (who, having rejected the Tyrant's earlier advances, had been thrown in the Mathmos, and who was similarly protected by his own goodness). Pygar then flies Barbarella and the Tyrant away from the Mathmos. When asked by Barbarella why he saved the Tyrant after everything she had done to him, Pygar responds, "An angel has no memory."
Cast
- Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
as Barbarella - John Phillip LawJohn Phillip LawJohn Phillip Law was an American film actor with over one hundred movie roles to his credit. He was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Phyllis Sallee and the brother of actor Thomas Augustus Law .He was best known for his roles as the blind angel Pygar in the science fiction cult...
as Pygar, the angel - Anita PallenbergAnita PallenbergAnita Pallenberg is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving...
(dubbed by Joan GreenwoodJoan GreenwoodJoan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...
) as The Great Tyrant, Black Queen of Sogo - Milo O'SheaMilo O'Shea-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...
as Durand Durand / Concierge - Marcel MarceauMarcel MarceauMarcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
as Professor Ping - David HemmingsDavid HemmingsDavid Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....
as Dildano - Claude DauphinClaude Dauphin (actor)Claude Dauphin was a French actor. He appeared in over 130 films between 1930 and 1978.He was born in Corbeil-Essonnes, Essonne. His father was Maurice Étienne Legrand, a poet who wrote as Franc-Nohain, and who was the librettist for Maurice Ravel's opera L'heure espagnole.Dauphin married...
as President Dianthus of Earth - Ugo TognazziUgo TognazziUgo Tognazzi was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life:Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.After his return in the native city in 1936, he...
as Mark Hand
Casting
Fonda has lamented the fact that she turned down starring roles in two major hit films, Bonnie and ClydeBonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
and Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby (film)
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...
to stay in France and star in Barbarella, which was being directed by her then husband Roger Vadim.
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
turned down the role of Barbarella.
Style
Barbarella is noted for its title sequence, which features Jane Fonda undressingStriptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
in zero-gravity
Weightlessness
Weightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
.
The whole film is played in a tongue-in-cheek manner, especially when it comes to the frequent (but not explicit) sex scenes. The most controversial of those scenes involves Barbarella being tortured by the use of an organ-like instrument that delivers sexual pleasure in doses that can be lethal, although Barbarella survives the ordeal and is visibly disappointed when it is discovered she has overloaded the machine.
The film was simultaneously shot in French and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Some characters' lines were performed by the same actors in both languages; others were not. For instance, Fonda is fluent in French and performs her own lines for the French version, while Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
's lines are dubbed for the English film.
De Laurentiis returned to camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
science fiction, but with far less erotica, with the 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (film)
Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian...
.
Music
The songs in the film were written by Bob CreweBob Crewe
Bob Crewe is an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, record producer and fine artist. He is known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons...
and Charles Fox
Charles Fox (composer)
Charles Ira Fox is an American composer for film and television. His most heard compositions are probably the "love themes" , and the dramatic theme music to ABC's Wide World of Sports and the original Monday Night Football.....
. Stylistically, the sound brought together a lounge music
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
aesthetic with psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop is a psychedelic musical style inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting...
. Bob Crewe himself provided the vocal for the memorable film closer "An Angel Is Love", and several songs were performed by The Glitterhouse, a New York-based psychedelic pop group that was produced by Crewe and recorded for his DynoVoice label. During his first European tour in 1967, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
had flown from Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to meet Vadim and Fonda in order to discuss the possibility of composing the music for the film, but this did not happen.
Special effects
The psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
"blob" patterns that form much of the special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s in the film were created using an oil wheel projector, a popular visual effects device which was widely used for psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
light shows
Liquid light shows
Liquid light shows or psychedelic light shows surfaced in the mid 1960s and early 1970s in America and Europe.Leading names were Glen McKay’s Headlights The Joshua Light Show/Joe's Lights/Sensefex located in NY), Tony Martin Liquid light shows or psychedelic light shows surfaced in the mid 1960s...
at rock concerts in the late 1960s and was also used in many other '60s movies, as well as in many anti-drug educational films.
Reception
The film was both a box office and critical failure on its release. VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s review stated that "Despite a certain amount of production dash and polish and a few silly-funny lines of dialogue, Barbarella isn't very much of a film. Based on what has been called an adult comic strip, the Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
production is flawed with a cast that is not particularly adept at comedy, a flat script, and direction which can't get this beached whale afloat." Despite this, in the years since its initial release, Barbarella has garnered a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
. It was re-released from 1977-1980 with a PG rating; the re-release found a bigger audience. Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
talked about watching the film while on LSD in his book Private Parts
Private Parts (book)
Private Parts is the first autobiography of American radio presenter Howard Stern. Released on October 7, 1993 by Simon & Schuster, it is the fastest-selling book in the company's history. It was later adapted into a film in 1997 starring Stern and his radio show staff as themselves...
. The film has garnered a 74% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Remake
A remake of Barbarella has been planned for years, starting soon after plans for a sequel with Fonda fell through in the mid to late 1970s. Original screenplay writer Roger VadimRoger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
said that he would be open to making a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
with actresses Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn is an American actress and filmmaker. She came to international attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks...
and Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
as the title role, yet nothing came of it.
The most serious planning of the long proposed remake began in early 2008. This remake would have been produced and released by Universal Studios, with one time James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
screenwriters Neal Purvis
Neal Purvis
Neal Purvis is a screenwriter best known for co-writing the last five James Bond films with his long-time collaborator Robert Wade.-Selected written screenplays:*Let Him Have It *The World Is Not Enough...
and Robert Wade
Robert Wade (screenwriter)
Robert Wade is a screenwriter best known for co-writing the last five James Bond films with his long-time collaborator Neal Purvis.-Selected written screenplays:*Let Him Have It *The World Is Not Enough...
penning the script, and Dino
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
and Martha De Laurentiis heading as producers.
Sin City
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
director Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
was soon after announced as the slated director for the remake. Early candidates for the role of Barbarella were actresses Erica Durance
Erica Durance
Erica Durance is a Canadian actress. She has also been credited as Erica Parker. She is best known for her role as Lois Lane in the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.- Early life :...
of the WB's Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
, Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
, and Rodriguez's Grindhouse star Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
. Later news articles confirmed that McGowan had been cast as the title role. Universal Studios eventually backed out of the movie with some news sources speculating that it was due to studio executives doubting McGowan's ability to carry a big budget movie and that the studio had slashed the budget after learning of McGowan winning the role. Rodriguez denied this, stating, "Universal had initially signed on for $60 million, but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million."
Due to Universal insisting on lowering the cost of the film and on recasting the role of Barbarella, Rodriguez shopped the remake to other studios in the hopes of gaining a larger budget allowance and retaining McGowan as Barbarella. Rodriguez has stated that the large budget needs stem from the fact that the majority of the movie takes place in outer space, and that "we don’t want the movie to look like the original." Rodriguez said he abandoned the project in May 2009 after he turned down a $70 million budget that required shooting in Germany. Expressing regret for the undone film, he thought he could not be away from his five children for as long as it would take if shot in Germany.
Although later news articles would attach director Robert Luketic
Robert Luketic
Robert Luketic is an Australian film director. He directed the films Monster-in-Law, Legally Blonde and 21.-Early life:...
to the project, the film had not met its projected release date of summer 2010 and there are no active plans to produce the film.