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It starred Jane Fonda as a 41st-century astronaut who performed a gravity-defying striptease and quickly became a cult classic marking the height of 1960s psychedelia.
Now, Barbarella, the kitsch, 1968 sci-fi film in which Fonda plays an inter-galactic sex kitten who sets out to find the evil Duran Duran in space, will be remade in a modern version by the director Robert Rodriguez.
Speaking in Cannes, Rodriguez, who directed the box office hit Sin City, and recently collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on the horror movie double-bill, Grindhouse, said he was excited by the prospect. "The possibilities are limitless. I love this iconic character and all she represents," he said.
The film's original producer, Dino De Laurentiis, will be in charge of the remake, which is due to be released by Universal next year. The actress playing the lead part has not yet been named.
De Laurentiis, who was also involved in the 1970s sci-fi series Flash Gordon, said in a statement: "Barbarella is the ultimate science-fiction adventure heroine - smart, strong and sexy. In our vision, the future is female, and I can't wait to introduce Barbarella to a new generation of moviegoers."
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who co-wrote the screenplay for the James Bond film Casino Royale, will work on the script.
In spite of the cult status which transformed Fonda into a universal sex symbol, the film was a box office flop. It was directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim, and caused a sensation for the opening scene, in which Fonda undresses in zero gravity.
The singer Kylie Minogue recreated the iconic sequence in the video for her 1994 single, Put Yourself In My Place.
The British pop group Duran Duran named themselves after the evil character in the film.
The singer Prince also said he was inspired by the film. His song Endorphin Machine from The Gold Experience album relates to the sexual torture machine which Duran Duran uses on Barbarella in the film.
Barbarella first appeared in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest in 1962.
De Laurentiis secured the rights to the cartoon creation from Jean-Claude's son Julien.
Under the deal, the first two Barbarella books will be reissued and material previously unreleased in English will be published.
In the film, Barbarella lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find Duran Duran in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters the Excessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which Duran Duran can drive a victim to death by pleasure.
She also meets a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoke a hookah which dispenses "Essence of Man".
The film , was acted in a kitsch, tongue-in-cheek manner, especially the frequent, albeit non-explicit, sex scenes.
Now, its special effects can appear crude and unconvincing, but they were ambitious by the standards of the day. The psychedelic "blob" patterns that form much of the special effects in the original are created using an oil wheel projector, a popular visual effects device used in other films of the same era.
The film was simultaneously shot in French and English, and Fonda performed her own lines in French.
- INDEPENDENT
