The Sydney Sweeney-led “Barbarella” film is taking shape, with Edgar Wright in talks to direct the picture for Sony. Jane Goldman and Honey Ross are in talks to pen the script.
Wright, best known for making the satiric zombie film “Shaun of the Dead,” is next set to direct Glen Powell in an adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Running Man.” Wright’s other directorial credits include “Last Night in Soho,” “Hot Fuzz,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Baby Driver.”
The project also marks another step in Sweeney’s continued relationship with Sony Pictures — she’s most recently starred in “Anyone but You” and “Madame Web” for the studio. While “Madame Web” was largely panned by critics, Sweeney says her involvement in the film was a “strategic business decision” that’s since paid off.
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“To me, that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony,” Sweeney said. “Without doing ‘Madame Web’ I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there. Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell ‘Anyone but You.’ I was able to get ‘Barbarella.’”
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Sweeney first confirmed her involvement with the project in October 2022, sharing a photo of the heroine with the caption, “Time to save the universe.”
Adapted from French writer and illustrator Jean-Claude Forest’s comic series, the original 1968 “Barbarella” starred Jane Fonda as the titular space-traveling heroine. Although the film wasn’t a box office smash at the time, it has garnered a cult film status in the decades since, with Barbarella widely seen as one of Fonda’s most iconic on-screen roles.
Although several attempts to bring “Barbarella” back to the big screen have been dreamed up in recent years, none have come to fruition. Fonda expressed hesitation regarding the reboot in 2023, saying, “I worry about what it’s going to be.”
Deadline was first to report the news.
