'Barbarella' Really Headed in the Wrong Direction

Friday

07Aug2009

'Barbarella' Really Headed in the Wrong Direction

Friday, August 7, 2009 at 9:32AM

When the remake of Barbarella was put in cold storage earlier this summer, I'm sure a lot of people breathed a sigh of relief. It was one less remake to deal with and one that, more than likely, wouldn't have been done correctly, anyway.

That's the real problem with Roger Vadim's version, ultimately. It was released a few years too soon and too much in the mainstream to be the sort of strange, sexual experience it ought to be. It was those things, but dilluted. Nowadays you could probably get away with more sex and more nudity and the level of actresses willing to do that sort of thing include three Best Actress winners in the past decade.

But the update hasn't stayed on the shelf long. Robert Rodriguez was involved then he wasn't and now Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth) will direct. See, I don't think Luketic is anywhere near the right choice here. In fact, I think it's a terrible pairing. The Hollywood Reporter contends, however, that Luketic and producer Dino De Laurentiis will keep the sexuality, but "the focus will be on the adventure."

So they've hired Joe Gazzam, who has also written the upcoming 21 Jump Street movie, which is a fairly tongue-in-check proposition from what I hear. Excited? No, me either.

And here's the problem: Much like studios are now making movies based solely on future release dates that the competition hasn't already claimed, we're seeing a pattern among producers to force these projects forward before they're ready to go. Luketic shouldn't be directing this. Peter Berg probably shouldn't be doing Dune. The guy they hired to do Conan I'd never heard of. It's that way with the scripts, too, and actors, as well.

Rather than put the pieces together and then start shooting, we're seeing a disturbing trend of these movies being forced into place. Some will work just because they've hired very good professionals, and for what he does, Luketic qualifies. But especially with a remake, if you're going to do it, wouldn't you first ensure you could do it the right way? This movie needs a touch of Adrian Lyne and Alfonso Cuaron not a dash of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton.

Colin Boyd |

Permalink | in

Barbarella,

Remakes,

Sci-Fi |

Print Article |

Email Article |

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

Post a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »

Author:

Author Email (optional):

Author URL (optional):

Post:

↓ | ↑

Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>