DRIVE Director To Remake BARBARELLA

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Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish writer & director whose name I pretend to know how to pronounce, will be, according to Deadline, remaking Barbarella as a TV series. Refn, who has become untouchably cool since directing last year’s best movie, and Complex favourite, Drive, is finishing up Thai crime epic Only God Forgives, which returning star Ryan Gosling describes as “the strangest thing [he’s] ever read,” and it looks like Barbarella will possibly be the next project Refn tackles.  I only say ‘possibly’, as this guy seems to be attached to every project going at the moment that hasn’t already been taken by Edgar Wright, with a Logan’s Run remake on the horizon, and constant rumours of other projects (a few years back I saw him at the Melbourne International Film Festival where, in response to an audience question, announced that his next film would be a retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Keanu Reeves. After a few snickers from the audience, he admitted, embarrassed “I need the money.” Luckily that seems to have fallen through).

While I love Barbarella as much as, I dunno, I suppose the next fan of Barbarella, I’m pretty cool with Refn taking a stab at this. It seems right up his alley, although the female character I’m dying for him to tackle is Wonder Woman, which he keeps expressing a desire to make. Now, I’m not one to call DC Comics/Warner Brothers idiots, but my friend, Johnny RealSource is, and he says that it’s stupid that Warners/DC keep floundering with their cinematic versions of their characters, and that sure – they’re protective of their intellectual properties, but these things are only actually profitable if they’re being used – so why not make a version with a proven, fantastic director, you morons? Mr. RealSource’s words, not mine.

Anyway, with the weird mixture of pulp, pop, fetish and sheer fucking cool that Refn applies to his work, it looks to me like Barbarella could work quite well. Apparently Refn is going to direct the series himself. No word yet on how many episodes we’re talking, but I do hope it’ll have a quick turnaround time, as I can’t do without him on my cinema screen for too long at a time.

Apparently I’m not the only one secretly sculpting a statue for the Dane in my basement long into the night, as THR reports that the Munich International Film Festival will be screening a retrospective of his work, as well as having him host a public Q&A session where he will surely have less to be embarrassed about than when he was in Melbourne a few years back. Unless he shows up wearing his comfort blanket.

With Only God Forgives due for release later this year, it’s a good time to be a Refn fan. And really, who couldn’t be a fan of the coolest man working in film today? The man who is so cool, that he’s almost certainly out of my league. I mean, haha, wouldn’t it be funny if we made out, Mr Refn? Haha. Just a funny joke. I’m such a kidder.

Unless you’re into that.