Jane Fonda, the original Barbarella, has revealed she hasn’t spoken to Sydney Sweeney, who is starring in the upcoming reboot.
Speaking to Vogue, Fonda said she had “a lot of ideas” about how she’d do a reboot of the cult 1968 film.
“Nobody’s asked me about it,” she told the publication.
“I wish I could do a remake of Barbarella, but I wouldn’t play her again. I have a lot of ideas about what that could look like.”
However, she did say that “if Sydney asks [about the ideas], I’ll let her know.”
Last year, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fonda said she “[worried] about what [the reboot] is going to be.” While details about the film are thin on the ground, Last Night In Soho director Edgar Wright is set to direct the project.
She did heap praise on Sweeney though, saying she thought she was “great” – even though she’d never met her. “I’m sure she’ll be a fantastic Barbarella,” she added.
Sweeney confirmed in 2022 that she was working on the reboot, sharing the original artwork captioned: “Time to save the universe.”
The 1968 film was based on a French comic series of the same name by Jean-Claude Forest, with groovy adventures for the titular character, who chased the villain Durand Durand across the universe.
The film, which featured corny 60s costumes and sets, gained a cult following despite being a box office flop.
There have been a couple of attempts to remake the iconic film which have stalled.
In the 2000s, American film maker Robert Rodriguez announced plans for a new Barbarella, but eventually dispensed with the expensive idea.
Amazon then picked up the premise for TV in 2012, but director Nicolas Winding Refn decided to focus on other projects.
Earlier this week, Fonda took a subtle swipe at Donald Trump as she accepted the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, warning “a lot of people are going to be hurt by what’s coming our way.”
The legendary actress pushed through a brief technical hiccup during her speech at the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, using the moment to stress the importance of community amid uncertain times.
Fonda urged the star-studded crowd to “stay connected, support the vulnerable, and refuse to isolate” while delivering a powerful speech about resilience.
While she didn’t mention Trump directly, Fonda nodded to The Apprentice star Sebastian Stan, who portrays the former president in the upcoming film, making her message loud and clear.
