Sydney Sweeney will play "Barbarella"

"Time to save the universe". Sydney Sweeney announces with these words, accompanied by an image of the poster of the 1968 film of the same name, her next film project: Barbarella. The young actress, who will appear on screen in the dual role of protagonist and producer (together with SONY Pictures), will reprise the role that made Jane Fonda an international sex symbol. 

The story of the original film directed by Roger Vadim followed the intergalactic adventures of Barbarella, a character from the 41st century whom her creator, the French artist Jean-Claude Forest, described as "a girl who is a bit wild, and therefore barbaric, but at the same time gentle (hence the choice of the diminutive), a woman who is finally free, the master of her actions and her body". Her mission? To stop the evil scientist Durand Durand, who threatens to bring evil back to the galaxy with his positronic ray. At the time of its release, the film was not a box office success, but over time it became a classic of the soft-erotic genre, a cult pop movie, especially thanks to the performance and look of Fonda, iconic in her bold Paco Rabanne outfits. The actress, who was married to Vadim at the time and accepted the role after rejections from Brigitte Bardot, Virna Lisi and Sophia Loren, turned Barbarella into the prototype of a new kind of heroine, feminist and uninhibited, and, in return, the blonde astronaut gave her great fame. 

Nothing is yet known about the new Barbarella. Everything is still in development and, so far, neither director nor scriptwriter have been announced or what story the new film will follow? Will it be a remake of the 1960s original?  The only thing that is certain is that Sweeney seems a perfect choice. She certainly has the physique du rôle, but she also has that mixture of vulnerability and pin-up looks that made the fortune of legendary divas like Marilyn Monroe. The young actress, who was nominated for two Emmys this year, for Euphoria and for the first season of The White Lotus, now has the chance to show her talent and versatility, trying her hand not at the usual roles of troubled teenage girls, but with a cult film. Who knows if she will be able to match Jane Fonda and who will create her stage costumes...We still have time to find out, as Sydney is currently working on two other projects produced by SONY Pictures, Madame Web, alongside Dakota Johnson, and The Registration, an adaptation of the Madison Lawson thriller of the same name.