Having bid farewell to Euphoria’s Cassie Howard/Jacobs, the HBO role which catapulted her into mainstream stardom, Sydney Sweeney is set to appear in Sony’s reimagining of the sci-fi classic Barbarella, first announced in October 2023. Despite seemingly minimal updates on the project, recent reports have confirmed Sony is moving forward with the remake, with Edgar Wright directing.
The first Barbarella film was released in 1968 by director Roger Vadim and was based on the 1964 comic of the same name by French writer and illustrator Jean-Claude Forest. The film, also known as Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy, was written by Terry Southern, Roger Vadim, Claude Brulé, Vittorio Bonicelli, Clement Biddle Wood, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates and Forest, starring screen icon Jane Fonda in the titular role.
A sci-fi comedy blend, the film spotlights its protagonist as a United Earth government representative who is tasked with locating and stopping scientist Dr Durand Durand in his quest to wipe out humankind with a new weapon.
Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy also starred John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O’Shea, Marcel Marceau, Claude Dauphin, David Hemmings and Ugo Tognazzi. It grossed $5.5 million at the box office from a budget of $4-9 million and was the United Kingdom’s second-highest-grossing film of the year.
Additional attempted remakes include one announced in the 2000s, with Robert Rodriguez signed on to direct, and Jawbreaker star Rose McGowan set to take on Fonda’s role, under Universal Pictures. Due to a budget going over $80 million, Universal withdrew support, and Rodriguez sought a new studio to achieve his artistic vision of creating something different from Vadim, yet soon had to drop the project.
2012 saw Nicolas Winding Refn sign on to direct a remake series for Amazon Prime Video, yet the filmmaker decided to focus on The Neon Demon rather than remaking something “better left untouched“.
Sweeney has recently appeared in The Housemaid by director Paul Feig, an adaptation of the Freida McFadden novel of the same title and will star in the upcoming sequel based on the next book. She also starred in sports biopic Christy as professional boxer Christy Martin, and is set to star in an adaptation of The Custom of the Country by director Josie Rourke, based on the Edith Wharton novel of the same name from 1913.
Meanwhile, Wright’s recent filmmaking credits include the sci-fi action flick The Running Man, the psychological horror Last Night in Soho, the documentary The Sparks Brothers and the action film Baby Driver.
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