The NY Observer says Robert Rodriguez has lost Universal’s backing for his Barbarella remake, over the filmmaker’s insistence that his fiancee, Rose McGowan, play the title role. Rodriguez and McGowan “fell in love” on the set of Planet Terror, which led to the end of Rodriguez’s 16-year marriage to his producer, Elizabeth Avellan. According to the story, when the studio was first informed that Rodriguez intended to cast McGowan over “more famous names [like] Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and Jessica Alba”, they re-calibrated Barbarella’s budget from $100 million to something “in the double-digit millions.” Rodriguez denies this; he says Universal will give him $60 million to make the film, no questions asked, but he thinks he needs $82 million, so he’s shopping the project around to other studios.
Of note: McGowan face was injured in a car accident earlier this year, leading to actress to obtain major plastic surgery. It’s possible that the studio is worried the 17 Cherry Darling obsessives that might pay to see McGowan in a Barbarella outfit may not even be able to recognize her (see this related rumor about the actress’ reported post-surgery trouble landing work). Also of note: not one of the three “more famous” actresses listed above has proven that she can actually open a movie.
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Halle is making me dizzy already, what with the jumping back-and-forth from legit to genre roles. Alba seems too… virginal (I can’t see her in the Excessive Machine sequence). Nicole would seem the best choice of the three “bankables” in that she could probably pull off that combination of sultriness and pre-Lib wonder that Jane projected so perfectly in the original. Except, wait, isn’t she now officially box office poison according to Jeff Robinov? I’m so confused. When is Roberto making that Santo movie?
Wait … Nicole Kidman can’t open a movie? Stepford Wives, Bewitched and Interpreter all had 20m+ opening weekends, sold exclusively on her face being plastered all over the ads. That’s the very definition of opening a movie.
$20 million doesn’t mean much on a summer weekend. Stepford Wives opened in 5th place, Bewitched opened in 2nd. Neither came close to making back its production budget domestically. I know you love her, but you know those were huge disappointments. I’ll give you The Interpreter, I guess. So Nicole Kidman hasn’t been able to open a movie since mid 2005.
This is all gut feeling but, here goes.
Unless Rodriguez comes up with something really astounding or at least visually original, on the level of Sin City, I don’t think Barbarella is going to do big box office. Its source material is too obscure, and Roberto (and McGowan?) has been tainted by the Grindhouse flop. If the overexposed Kidman makes the movie, it might register a Bewitched-sized blip in the mediasphere and vanish. DVD buyers will stay away. With a relative unknown with some geek cred like McGowan, at least the DVD will have a fighting chance. This all pains me because I really enjoy Rodriguez’ work (and enthusiasm), and I love the original Barbarella.
What baffles me about this is the price tag. Rodriguez has always been able to make movies fairly inexpensively, and in a way that makes them look more big-budget than they really are. Why would he turn down $60 million and insist on $82 million? The article says it’s because the movie takes place in outer space, but it still seems odd.
yeah, totally. this guy makes movies in his garage. You’d think, if Rose is hanging around the house anyway, they could put together a test reel pretty easily to soothe the studio’s minds.
Well, until this is sorted out, I’ll just watch CQ again.