Earlier this year, the French-owned Gaumont International Television and producer Martha De Laurentiis announced that they’d be bringing the celebrated movie serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the small screen, and now Deadline has revealed that they plan to follow this with another series based around the comic book character Barbarella, made famous of course by Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s cult 1968 sci-fi of the same name. Furthermore, the man behind the adaptation will be none other than Nicolas Winding Refn, the acclaimed filmmaker behind Bronson and Drive, who will serve as director and executive producer on the series.
Described by Refn as “one of the ultimate counter-cultural characters”, Barbarella was created by Jean-Claude Forest in 1962 for the French title V-Magazine, earning a reputation as the first ‘adult’ comic book story and causing controversy due to its erotic content. The character became a pop culture icon following the release of 1968’s Barbarella, which was produced by Dino De Laurentiis – the late husband of Martha De Laurentiis – and before his death in 2010 the pair were working on a feature remake alongside director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete) and Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
Originally published June 20, 2012. Updated December 6, 2019.
