Sydney Sweeney Is Stepping Into Jane Fonda’s Go-Go Boots as Barbarella

Sydney Sweeney could be entering her camp era. OK, to be fair, there is something quite campy about screaming, “I have never ever been happier” with snot dripping down your nose and onto your Oklahoma-style gingham dress. Or, reading Nietzsche while laying out at a Four Seasons-inspired resort in Hawaii, paid for by your parents, for that matter. So, maybe Sweeney has been a camp queen for a while now, but her newest role could very well position her as this generation’s camp queen, if a title were to exist. It was just announced the Euphoria actress will be stepping into Jane Fonda’s metallic go-go boots and reprising the role of Barbarella.

Sweeney will executive produce the film as well as star as the titular character, based off a French comic book by Jean-Claude Forest, which was popularized in 1968 thanks to Fonda’s film. As of now, not much is known about this new take on the classic.

The original film, set in the 41st century, follows Barbarella, an astronaut with the task of finding and stopping evil scientist Durand Durand who’s attempting to cause mass destruction to Earth with a positronic ray. The mission sends Barbarella on a multi-planet journey where she meets different characters of both good and evil. The original film was extremely sexual, with Barbarella bedding many of the companions she made throughout the adventure, and at one point falling victim to a machine created to inflict fatal orgasms. While the film wasn’t too much of a success at the time of its release, it has gone on to become a cult classic, and helped to establish Fonda as a cultural sex symbol.

As of now, the remake is still in development, and lacks a writer and director, but still, many are wondering who will take on the task of recreating the original’s iconic costumes. There are some misconceptions when it comes to who created the costumes for the 1968 film. For the most part, they were designed by French costume designer Jacques Fonteray, not Paco Rabanne, as many believe. Fonteray is said to have been greatly influenced by Rabanne, though the Spanish fashion designer did reportedly create one look for the film. In the years since, many have been inspired by the chainmail, mod dresses of Barbarella, with everyone from Jean Paul Gaultier to Nicolas Ghesquière citing them as influences for respective collections. All of that is to say that there are many modern designers who could have some fun designing costumes if the movie decides to go in a more high fashion direction, but of course, current creative director of Paco Rabanne, Julien Dossena, is at the top of the list.