Durand Durand

Last night I watched Barbarella. I don't think I fully understood the meaning of camp before then. Jane Fonda's so straightforward, grounded even when rolling around naked in fur rugs and space suits and shtooping angels. She can't quite manage to be dumb, even when uttering the dumbest lines. She's always in on the joke.
But I was thinking about a remake. Mind you, there is absolutely no reason to do a remake. The only thing the film has to recommend it is its silliness, and it nails silliness. That being the only good component of the flick isn't the fault of the execution; it's not like the premise or the script are great. And the acting is exactly what it's supposed to be, camp central. You could probably make a "better" version of Barbarella, but that would be missing the point of Barbarella.
But, it's a fun thought exercise to ponder the cast. Because I can't image an actress who'd be willing to lounge around naked as gratuitously as Fonda, and also comes across as vaguely intelligent and innocent at the same time. Especially now, when we know so much about actor's sex lives, the big joke of the film would be the actress playing on her off-screen persona. In the original, Barbarella gets laughs by playing on ideas about sex, not on the audience's knowledge that, in real life, Fonda is a ho.
Take Pamela Anderson: totally expect her to run around naked, totally believe she's a whore, she's not quite smart, but weirdly nice (those kids and all). On paper, she'd be perfect, and so horrible. There's no fun in her as Barbarella, she's typecast. Consider, Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet.