In the story of big budget remake of Barbarella, Universal and Robert Rodriguez split over budget issues or his refusal to cast anyone other than his girlfriend Rose McGowan in the lead role (depending on what story you read). The director’s attempts to lower the budget from $80 million to $60 million have thus far been unsuccessful. And with a writers strike now in effect, the project is probably on hold indefinitely. So what is Rodriguez to do?
LatinoReview has heard that Warner Bros is interested in having the Sin City director tackle the Clash of the Titans remake. A while back it was reported that Raiders and Empire screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, with Travis Beacham (Killing on Carnival Row) drafting a script. Last month it was rumored that Sam Raimi was offered the gig, but nothing was officially announced. So it appears that the studio is on a hunt for a new director, and Rodrgiuez would be perfect for the job. It should also be noted that Rodriguez was in talks at Warner to helm either a live-action Jetsons movie or a big screen version of Land of the Lost before he latched onto Barbarella. So it’s very likely that Warner would go to Rodriguez with this project since his schedule has suddenly cleared up. But for now this is all rumor. Rodriguez could turn down the offer. One thing is for sure, if Rodriguez does decide to sign on for the project, I’m pretty sure we all know who will be playing Medusa.
The original Desmond Davis film was an adaptation of the myth of Perseus which told his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda. The movie is famous for its use of Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion animated creatures.
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Nikki Finke has confirmed Robert Rodriguez’ story with her Universal sources, and it APPEARS that McGowan wasn’t the sore point in the Barbarella project after all. Apparently the Universal execs fell in love with Rose, who appeared in an early screen test back in July.
“a rather spectacular screen test of Rose playing the role of Barbarella that also demonstrated Robert’s vision and visual style for the movie. We all saw that it would work and signed on.”
“And all of us got our arms around the real movie Robert wanted to make. It had grown in its ambition. Robert’s visualization of a sci-fi universe flushed out in set pieces and sequences started to become apparent. It was a much larger film than we had originally discussed.”
The proposed $60 million budget turned into $80+ million, and Universal got nervous. Heck, it doesn’t matter how good Rose was if she isn’t a name that will put buts in seats. Rodriguez shaved the budget down to $72 million, but that was still way more than the studio was interested in investing. That is when Universal boss Marc Schmuger told Rodriguez to try and set it up elsewhere, but to get back to them if he could get the budget down to around $60.
I’m still not interested in seeing a Barbarella remake, and most, if not everyone I’ve talked to seem to be in agreement. Young people see movies, and a movie with the Barbarella name calls back to an older generation. And Young people don’t want an idea rehashed from their parent’s childhood. However, the fact that Finke says that Universal were sold on Robert’s vision of the film. To tell the El Mariachi director that they have $60 million for a $80 million movie, puts Rodriguez in an interesting corner. Rodriguez is best when he is forced to be creative.
Last week The New York Observer broke the news that Universal Studios had backed out of Robert Rodriguez’s big screen big-budget remake of Barbarella because Robert was unable to budge on the casting choice of his new fiance, Rose McGowan. Of course, McGowan isn’t a big enough star to carry a “$100 million film.”
“It’s sort of embarrassing for everyone involved,” Observer’s source said. “No one thinks Rose can carry the movie, but Robert won’t listen.”
Our friends at IESB talked to Robert, who of course denies that the production trouble had anything to do with casting. Rodriguez claims that it had to do with the skyrocketing budget, which is currently around 82 million. According to the Sin City director, Universal wanted to do the film for around $60 million.
Reporting on Hollywood has made me learn how to read between the lines of Hollywood speak lies. I’m guessing that Universal was more than willing to do Barbarella for $80+ million if there were a big name star attached, and Rodriguez is hoping that the studio may budge if he can bring down the budget. And Rodriguez is great with cutting corners and getting the maximum value out of the littlest money. So I don’t doubt that he wouldn’t be able to bring in the film for much cheaper. But the real question is, will Universal greenlight a McGowan-led Barbarella for $60 million? I’m not too sure, even that price tag is a bit high, and the studio wants a reasonable guarantee that they will make a return on their investment.
Honestly, I hope that Universal does not greenlight this project. Barbarella is a film that doesn’t need to be remade. Rodriguez is a tremendous talent, and his efforts could be better spend elsewhere, on a better project. I also don’t think that this generation with latch on to a Barbarella remake, and that the concept is pretty much failed in marketing conception. And with Rose in the lead, it doesn’t make the marketing department’s job any easier.
Last we heard, Kate Beckinsale was in consideration to play the lead role in Robert Rodriguez’s remake of Barbarella. But to be honest, if Rodriguez’s name wasn’t attached to the project, we wouldn’t have even known that much. And even then, I was kind of hoping that this was going to be one of those projects that fell into development hell.
Well, it gets even worse. JoBlo is reporting that Rodriguez’s girlfriend and Planet Terror star Rose McGowan is being used for FX test footage of the film. Could this mean McGowan is in? She wasn’t a big enough star to sell tickets for Grindhouse (which I still believe to be one of this year’s best movies). Does anyone actually want to see a Barbarella remake anyways? And do any of those people want to see a Bararella with Rose McGowan? I don’t think so.
The project is scheduled to start principal photography before year’s end, so we’ll find out the cast soon enough.
Not only do we completely not care about Kate Beckinsale potential casting in the remake of Barbarella, but we’re completely uninterested in the whole project. But as it turns out, this is the slowest news day in a while, so we need to report something.
The chick flick turned bad genre movie actress is rumored to be in consideration for the lead role, according to the Daily Express. No director is attached. Casino Royale screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are penning the remake. But we still don’t care. Someone, please wake us up when something interesting happens.
