Barbarella in development; Romancing the Stone a long shot, says Robert Luketic

IndieMovies was on the red carpet for the European premiere of Killers tonight and managed to snag the very friendly director Robert Luketic for a couple of words about upcoming projects. He confirmed that he and producer Dino de Laurentiis are currently hard at work on their remake of Barbarella.

“We're getting stuck into it now”, he said. “It's going to be a big science fiction extravaganza.” The director didn't want to name names regarding who he sees for the Jane Fonda role but added, “We're seeing a lot of girls.” The film is one of a number of projects that the director has been attached to but it now seems clear that the remake of Roger Vadim's 1968 cult classic is at the front of the queue and possibly close to getting a green light. The last time the Barbarella remake was big news was last year, when Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct and Rose McGowan to star but Rodriguez was forced to abandon the project after it was dropped by Universal and he was unable to find another financing deal.

As for the other remake that Luketic been linked to, Robert Zemeckis' 1984 comedy/romance, the director said, “Romancing the Stone is a long shot because it's going to be a very hard one to top. The idea would have to be groundbreaking. I wouldn't want to mess with something as beloved as that because people would scratch my eyes out. People would run me out of town if I messed that one up, so I have to tread cautiously.”

We'll have a report from the premiere on the site a little later in the week.