History Trivia / Barbarella

** An early Franchise/XMen comic had Storm rescue the kidnapped Angel from the morally ambiguous Morlocks. Her clothing is reminiscent of Barbarella, and Angel is dressed like Pygar as well to boot.

* MissingEpisode: [[http://barbarella1968.blogspot.com/p/missing-footage.html See here]].

* StillbornFranchise: Whilst he was still alive, the film's co-writer-director Roger Vadim was interested in making a sequel with either Creator/SherilynFenn or Creator/DrewBarrymore playing Barbarella, but this never came to pass. In January 1969, Creator/{{Paramount}} announced a sequel as part of their production slate, imaginatively entitled ''Barbarella Goes Down'', which would have seen Barbarella have undersea adventures. In 1990, Terry Southern said that he was contacted by de Laurentiis in 1990 to write a sequel "on the cheap...but with plenty of action and plenty of sex," and possibly starring Fonda's daughter.

* DevelopmentHell: Back in 2008, Universal was planning to remake the film with Creator/RobertRodriguez as the director. Creator/RoseMcGowan was to take the role of Barbarella, but Universal freaked out over the high budget and they didn't think [=McGowan=] was right for the role. Rodriguez was not willing to make any changes, so he shopped the remake to other studios. Further problems came when his backers wanted Barbarella to be aimed for the German audience. Rodriguez didn't like that plan, so he finally gave up in May of 2009. Later, it was announced that Robert Luketic was to take over the director's chair, but production didn't really get off the ground. Now that the film's proposed producer, Dino De Laurentiis, has died, the remake now seems really unlikely despite rumors that Creator/AnneHathaway is attached to the remake.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Jane Fonda and Milo O'Shea weren't told that the Excessive Pleasure Machine was rigged with flares and smoke bombs - in the hopes of getting authentic reactions from them when it exploded.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The famous opening zero-G strip is clearly Jane Fonda rolling around on a sheet of glass over a rear projection of her apartment (notably, part of the opening credits is reflected in the glass, and Barbarella only rolls from side to side, never "sliding" or moving towards or away from the camera).

* FanNickname:
** It's common to hear the Excessive Machine referred to as the "[[Film/{{Sleeper}} Orgasmatron]]".
** Due to the band naming themselves after him, Durand Durand is often accidentally called ''Music/DuranDuran''.

* PlayingAgainstType: Portraying Dr. Ping was famous French mime Marcel Marceau who was cast against type playing a very talky speaking part.

* CreatorBacklash: For years, Jane Fonda wasn't keen on the film and didn't like to talk about it; she especially disliked how sexual Barbarella was, and Roger Vadim noted that at the time she missed the satire in the screenplay (and therefore disliked the character's apparent "irrelevance to social and political realities"). But she came to embrace it eventually, as she said in her autobiography:
--> "I never dreamed the film would become a cult classic and, in some circles, the picture Vadim and I would be best known for. It has taken me many decades to arrive at a place where I can understand why this is so and even share the enjoyment of the film's unique charms. ...By today's standards ''Barbarella'' seems slow, ...but I think the jerry-built quality of the effects and the offbeat, camp humor give it a unique charm."

** Jane Fonda was struggling with bulimia at the time, and thus was not wholly comfortable playing such a MsFanservice.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/JaneFonda and Roger Vadim were married when the movie was made and first released.

* StillbornFranchise: Whilst he was still alive, the film's co-writer-director Roger Vadim was interested in making a sequel with either Sherilyn Fenn or Creator/DrewBarrymore playing Barbarella, but this never came to pass. In January 1969, Creator/{{Paramount}} announced a sequel as part of their production slate, imaginatively entitled ''Barbarella Goes Down'', which would have seen Barbarella have undersea adventures. In 1990, Terry Southern said that he was contacted by de Laurentiis in 1990 to write a sequel "on the cheap...but with plenty of action and plenty of sex," and possibly starring Fonda's daughter.

** Creator/BrigitteBardot, Creator/SophiaLoren and Creator/RaquelWelch turned down the title role.

* ReferencedBy: Chapter 3 of the YuriGenre manga ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland'' is a parody of the film, with Miyuki taking the place of Barbarella as she's forced to adventure through Sogo. This being a yuri manga, much of the focus is given to the Black Queen (she also scores an appearance in the first ''Creator/{{CLAMP}} in Wonderland'' video, though it's very blink-and-miss), though we also get to see gender-bent versions of Pygar and Durand Durand.
** And of course, Music/DuranDuran.

* TheOtherMarty: Dildano would've been played by Antonio Sabato, but his performance was deemed too serious, so he was replaced by David Hemmings.

* StillbornFranchise: Whilst he was still alive, the film's co-writer-director Roger Vadim was interested in making a sequel with either Sherilyn Fenn or Creator/DrewBarrymore playing Barbarella, but this never came to pass. In January 1969, Creator/{{Paramount}} announced a sequel as part of their production slate, imaginatively entitled ''Barbarella Goes Down''.

* FanNickname: It's common to hear the Excessive Machine referred to as the "[[Film/{{Sleeper}} Orgasmatron]]".

* RoleReprisal: Miles O'Shea plays Durand Durand in ''Duran Duran's'' movie, ''Arena'', where he arrives on Earth, furious that the band have stolen his name.
* StillbornFranchise: Whilst he was still alive, the film's co-writer-director Roger Vadim was interested in making a sequel with either Sherilyn Fenn or Creator/DrewBarrymore playing Barbarella, but this never came to pass.
** In January 1969, Creator/{{Paramount}} announced a sequel as part of their production slate, imaginatively entitled ''Barbarella Goes Down''.

* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: For the scene involving Barbarella being attacked by humming birds, wrens and lovebirds were used as it was illegal to ship hummingbirds overseas. The birds were not behaving as Roger Vadim had expected, which led to him employing a large fan to blow them at Creator/JaneFonda, who had birdseed in her costume. Creator/RogerRoger Ebert, after visiting the set, wrote that the fan led to birds "losing control over natural body functions, so it was all a little messy". Ebert concluded that "After two weeks of this, [Fonda] got a fever and was hospitalized. I can't reveal here how they finally did the scene".

** Creator/SophiaLoren turned down the title role.

** Creator/IanMcKellen flew to Rome to audition for a part. Although he didn't get it, he told Empire magazine that Creator/JaneFonda cooked him breakfast while he was waiting to do his read through.

* ReferencedBy: Chapter 3 of the YuriGenre manga ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland'' is a parody of the film, with Miyuki taking the place of Barbarella as she's forced to adventure through Sogo. This being a yuri manga, much of the focus is given to the Black Queen, though we also get to see gender-bent versions of Pygar and Durand Durand.

* TheOtherMarty: Dildano would've been played by Antonio Sabato, but his performance was deemed too serious, so he was replaced by David Hemmings.