Comic Book Heroine 'Barbarella' to Become TV Series

HOLLYWOOD—Quick show of hands: How many out there saw one of their first naked tits on actress Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella, released in 1968 and directed by Roger Vadim, Fonda's then-soon-to-be ex-husband? Well, even if Jane wasn't your first tit, are you ready for a TV show based around the popular character? Gaumont International Television, the American division of the French studio Gaumont, will be funding a TV pilot based around this "international woman of mystery" at Amazon Studios (the TV production arm of the famous book vendor). According to Deadline.com, the pilot script has been completed by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (also responsible for the recent James Bond hit Skyfall), and they're in the process of searching for a showrunner. Already signed on are director Nicolas Refn (Valhalla Rising) and producer Martha De Laurentiis (widow of Dino, who produced the earlier movie version), so once the showrunner is in place, the project's ready to go. Barbarella started out as a comic strip by French artist Jean-Claude Forest, and was serialized first in 1962 in France's V-Magazine, and then later in an English translation in The Evergreen Review in 1965-'66. It was also adapted into a stage play which premiered in Vienna in 2004, with music by The Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. No word yet on when the TV show will premiere, but the project has been in development at Gaumont for over a year and a half.