Profile of Barbarella on Famous Like Me

This article is about the book, the character, and the film. For the rocket, see Barbarella (rocket).

Barbarella
Directed by	Roger Vadim
Written by	Jean-Claude Forest Claude Brulé Clement Wood
Starring	Jane Fonda David Hemmings
Produced by	Dino De Laurentiis
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA)
Release date	October 10, 1968 (USA)
Runtime	98 min.
Language	English
Budget	$9,000,000
IMDb page

Barbarella was originally a French science fiction comic book created by Jean-Claude Forest, who originated the character for serialisation in the French magazine V-Magazine in 1962. It was subsequently published as a stand-alone book by Eric Losfeld. The comic stars Barbarella, a young woman who has numerous adventures, often involving sex, while journeying around the galaxy.

The film

A movie adaptation was made in 1968.

It is famous for a sequence in which the title character performs a striptease in zero gravity during (and crucially concealed by) the opening credits.

Barbarella is one of the few science fiction erotica films and includes an erotic torture device known as the Orgasmatron.

The whole film is played in a very tongue-in-cheek manner—especially when it comes to the frequent (but non-explicit) sex scenes. The special effects look cheaply-made and unconvincing, but there is a suggestion that they are meant to look that way in order to reinforce the film's camp atmosphere.

The film was simultaneously shot in French and English. In the French version, Fonda performs her own lines in French. In the English version, the character Pallenberg's lines are dubbed by Fenella Fielding, at least according to the region2 DVD booklet notes, although others have claimed that the voice actually belongs to Joan Greenwood. The character Marceau's lines are also dubbed into English.

De Laurentiis returned to camp science fiction (but without the erotica) with 1980's Flash Gordon.

It is rumoured that Drew Barrymore has obtained the rights to Barbarella, and is going to make a modern version. In May of 2005, sources at the website Cinescape claimed that Lindsay Lohan has signed on to play the character in a remake.

Primary cast

• Jane Fonda: Barbarella
• John Phillip Law: Pygar
• Anita Pallenberg: The Great Tyrant
• Milo O'Shea: Concierge/Durand Durand
• Marcel Marceau: Professor Ping
• Claude Dauphin: President of Earth

Trivia

Star Jane Fonda was married to director Roger Vadim during the production and distribution of Barbarella.

The psychedlic "blob" patterns that form much of the special effects in the film are created using an oil wheel projector, a popular visual effects device also used in many other '60s movies, as well as in many anti-drug educational films.

The band Duran Duran takes its name from Dr. Durand Durand (O'Shea), a mad scientist who appears in the film as one of the villains. O'Shea repaid the compliment by appearing (as an older version of Durand Durand) in Arena, the band's 1985 concert film. Some of the band's early appearances were at a nightclub called Barbarella's, in their home town of Birmingham, England. The band continued the homage to its roots with their 1997 US single, "Electric Barbarella" (released in the UK in 1998). The band have continually used sound clips from the film in their songs, most notably 1989's "Burning The Ground" and the remixes for 1990's "Violence Of Summer".

The band Matmos takes its name from the underground fluid creature in the film, as does the lava lamp manufacturer Mathmos.

Musical

A musical based on the movie written by Dave Stewart premiered in Vienna, Austria on March 11, 2004. The title role was played by Nina Proll. The musical closed on January 1, 2005. A cast recording was made, but only 100 copies were pressed for the public. These were distributed by lottery to members of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (United Stages of Vienna)'s "Musical Club".

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Barbarella