Legally Blonde director set to take on Barbarella remake

A REMAKE of the 1968 erotic sci-fi classic Barbarella could be set to blast off once again - with a new director.

Sin City director Robert Rodriguez last month dropped out of the Universal Studios project after spiralling costs would have forced him to shoot overseas, which he wasn't prepared to do.

Entertainment Weekly is now reporting that Robert Luketic could step into the director's chair and is working with producer Dino De Laurentiis, who owns the rights, to develop the film with a different studio.

"It will be a big intergalactic adventure with a sexy twist," a source is quoted as saying.

Luketic helmed 2001 hit comedy Legally Blonde, starring Reese Witherspoon; 2005's Monster in Law starring Jennifer Lopez and original Barbarella actress Jane Fonda; and upcoming The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade - who penned new Bond flicks Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace - have scripted the remake.

Erica Durance (Lois Lane in Smallville) was initially reported to be a front-runner for the title role, along with Sienna Miller, but then Rodriguez's fiancee Rose McGowan was cast when he was attached as director.

Rodriguez quit over funding and shooting locations. Universal Pictures backed out when the budget rose from their agreed $60million to $82million and Rodriguez looked for another studio to finance the project. He was offered $70million by a film company in Germany but was not willing to be away overseas from his five children for a lengthy period.

He said of his Barbarella project: "It was a really cool, R-rated, sexy, near heavy metal-style version of a Star Wars movie. Something that no one ever could get to see. It was gonna be really great."

But he added that he planned to release a book of the Barbarella concept artwork.

Barbarella is a French adult comic book character created by Jean-Claude Forest in 1962, and modelled on Brigitte Bardot. The heroine travels through space and has various adventures, often involving sex.

In the 1968 movie, Jane Fonda's Barbarella was sent on a mission by the president of Earth to rescue Doctor Durand Durand (on whom the band Duran Duran based their own name) from the planet SoGo. Although critically panned and a flop, the film has become a cult classic that is often referenced in pop culture.

The big question is whether Rose McGowan is still part of the project now that Rodriguez has left. Does that bring Erica Durance and Sienna Miller back into consideration? Or are there other actresses who would be more suitable? Name your preferred choices in the comments section below!