Hollywood is full of stories of people making one project so they could get another one greenlit. Sometimes, these are…shall we say poorly received things…paving the way for passion projects. Contractual obligations, yeah, and there are always those roles or jobs you have to take purely to survive. One of these is the case for two-time Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney (“The White Lotus,” “Euphoria“).
She recently starred in Sony Pictures’ beleaguered Spider-Man adjacent “Madame Web,” which was universally panned by critics and audience members alike. Why would someone with a filmography (thus far) like Sweeney’s chose a project like this one?
“Without doing ‘Madame Web,’ I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there [Sony]. Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions,” Sweeney told GQ. “Because I did that [‘Madame Web’], I was able to sell ‘Anyone but You.’ I was able to get ‘Barbarella.’”
“Anyone But You,” which features Sweeney and Glen Powell pretty much reviving the romcom genre of film for a new audience, has netted upwards of $200+ million on a budget of $25 million. Thats seriously impressive, no matter how you look at it.
But it’s that second project she mentions that really has our attention.
“Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy”
Ah yes, the classic sci-fi film starring Jane Fonda that gave band Duran Duran it’s name. Back in October of 2022, news came that Sweeney would be starring in a reboot of “Barbarella.” Apparently the entire reason she took “Madame Web” was to get both her successful romcom AND this sci-fi flick greenlit.
We don’t know much about the reboot, other than Sweeney’s casting and involvement.
Barbarella was created by Jean-Claude Forest for serialization in a French magazine. It became quite the scandal as it was one of the first “adult” comics. The character travels from planet to planet, meeting aliens and oftentimes having…relations with them. No word on if the great Duran Duran will use a new version of the excessive machine or not.
We’ll let you know what else we hear about this and other news. “Barbarella” is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
