Sunday, November 1, 2026
Jennifer Lopez Goes Full Barbarella for Halloween 2026 and Calls Jane Fonda Her ‘Monster-in-Law’
I’ve been behind the camera since 2001 and shot more than 2,000 scenes, and the hardest thing to recreate on any set is an icon. Copy a famous look and everyone compares you to the original. Jennifer Lopez, 57, just picked the most famous space sex symbol in movie history and dared us to compare.
Jennifer Lopez’s Halloween costume in 2026 is Barbarella, the role Jane Fonda made famous in 1968. She posted a full photo shoot on Instagram on Saturday, Oct. 31, with a caption that doubles as an in-joke: “BARBARELLA…I dressed up as my Monster-in-Law for Halloween…the original SPACE ANGEL 😇 Love you @JaneFonda” (Entertainment Now). Fonda, 88, played her nightmare mother-in-law in the 2005 comedy Monster-in-Law.
The shoot has two looks. The first is the classic: a plunging white bodysuit with black straps, matching white thigh-high boots and a silver ray gun (Entertainment Now, Mundo Deportivo). The second is the battle-damaged Barbarella: a sheer black bodysuit with torn holes and fake blood scratches, silver chainmail over the top as a crop top, hip sash and short cape, and thick silver cuffs on her arms (Jang). Both come with a giant blonde mane of curls, straight out of 1968.
I could watch this reel on loop: Jennifer Lopez opens on those white thigh-high Barbarella boots, then whips her huge blonde curls around in the torn sheer bodysuit and silver chainmail. She stretches out on the floor in the plunging white suit and gives the lens pure 1968 space-siren eyes. Costume, no nudity, all heat.
Jennifer Lopez as Barbarella, her Halloween 2026 reel (0:33)
Jennifer Lopez’s hub: the Hustlers pole dance, The Boy Next Door, U-Turn and her rare topless scene in Money Train, ranked, plus photos and her latest gossip. Open the Jennifer Lopez hub →
The photos: J.Lo as Barbarella
She went all the way with the set too. Some shots put her on a rocky, sci-fi-style backdrop, others stretched out on the floor with her legs in the air (Mundo Deportivo). A performer dressed as Pygar, the blind winged angel from the original film, poses with her in two frames, with Holden Maples credited in her post (Entertainment Now, Klix). She even made her own version of the movie poster, with her name next to “Barbarella – Queen of the Galaxy” (Klix).
The Film Updates post had about 352,000 views and 3,000 likes when we checked at about 9:05 p.m. Bangkok time on Nov. 1, 2026, the biggest celebrity Halloween post on X in that window. The reel above is her own Instagram video as shared on X (@base_celebrity), re-hosted here with our watermark.
Nico’s take: J.Lo just auditioned for a part nobody offered her
Let me tell you what I see, and it isn’t a Halloween costume. It’s a screen test. Barbarella is the role that turned Jane Fonda into a sex symbol, the movie that opens with her floating out of a space suit, piece by piece, in zero gravity. Every actress who touches that look is walking into the ghost of that striptease. J.Lo walked in at 57 and did it in two outfits.
From where I sit behind the camera, the white suit is the easy part. Anyone can buy boots. What sells it is the body language: the hip pushed out, the ray gun up by the face, the lazy legs-in-the-air pose on the floor. That’s 1968 pin-up blocking, and she hits every mark like she studied the film frame by frame. I bet she did.
And here’s the bit Hollywood should notice. Sony has had a Barbarella remake with Sydney Sweeney in development since 2022, and in July Edgar Wright said it’s “still in the script stage.” Four years, still no finished script. J.Lo did the whole look, the set, the angel and the poster in one weekend.
My take: if I were casting, I’d give the sexy-space-heroine crown to the woman who still looks like this at 57, and let her play it as the queen of the galaxy. Joke caption, serious flex.
Want to see what the body under the chainmail can do on film? Her hub has the Hustlers pole dance and the Money Train scene →
— Nico
One more thing. The caption is the smartest part. Calling Fonda “my Monster-in-Law” turns a sexy costume into a love letter to a legend, so the whole internet gets to drool and nobody gets to call it disrespectful. That’s how you do a tribute. You flatter the original and you still steal the show.
The original: Jane Fonda as Barbarella (1968)
Roger Vadim’s Barbarella stars Fonda as a 41st-century space traveler sent by the United Earth government to find the scientist Durand Durand, who has built a weapon that could destroy humanity (Jang). It became a cult classic for its costumes and its campy, sexy tone, and it’s streaming on MGM+ and Pluto (Popverse). Here’s the publicity look J.Lo copied, shared by fans next to her photos on X:
How we got here: J.Lo and Jane Fonda
- 1968: Jane Fonda plays Barbarella. She was 30 when the film came out.
- 2005: Monster-in-Law. Lopez plays bride-to-be Charlotte “Charlie” Cantilini, Fonda plays Viola Fields, the mother-in-law out to stop the wedding. It was Fonda’s first feature film after 15 years away from acting (Entertainment Now).
- 2013: Fonda attends Lopez’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, the 2,500th star on the Walk (Entertainment Now).
- 2019: Lopez calls working with Fonda a career highlight in a YouTube video revisiting the film (Entertainment Now).
- Feb. 28, 2025: the two reunite at a pre-Oscars party in Los Angeles (Entertainment Now).
- Oct. 31, 2026: J.Lo goes as Barbarella for Halloween and tags Fonda.
The Barbarella remake, for the record
Sony first announced a new Barbarella with Sydney Sweeney in 2022. Edgar Wright signed on to direct in 2024, with Jane Goldman and Honey Ross writing (Popverse). In June 2026 Sweeney set up her production company, Honey Trap, with a first-look deal at Sony, and Deadline confirmed she is still working on the TriStar remake (Deadline). In July Wright told a GalaxyCon panel: “It’s still in the script stage. There is a script that’s been written and we’re still working on that” (Popverse). No shoot date, no release date.
Jennifer Lopez’s sexiest scenes on film
The costume is a tease. The real thing is on film, and these four clips from her hub are where I’d start:
This is the scene that made me take Jennifer Lopez seriously as a dancer: Ramona Vega in Hustlers (2019) owning the pole in a tiny white g-string bodysuit, spinning upside down while Constance Wu’s Destiny stares from the floor. By the end she’s sprawled in dollar bills on stage. Not nude, just her hottest two minutes on film.
Hustlers (2019): Ramona’s pole dance (2:14) · more on her hub
Money Train (1995) holds one of the very few times Jennifer Lopez went topless on screen. Her Grace Santiago and Wesley Snipes’s John slide from kissing into a slow, low-lit love scene in bed, and her bare breasts show as she arches back under his hands. I’d trade the whole subway chase for these 52 seconds.
Money Train (1995): topless love scene (0:52) · more on her hub
Oliver Stone keeps it dusty in U-Turn (1997): Jennifer Lopez’s Grace McKenna and Sean Penn’s drifter Bobby Cooper go at it on a red blanket under the desert trees, hands working at her denim shorts, his sweaty face buried in her neck. Short, rough and sun-baked, this sex scene helped make her a ’90s sex symbol.
U-Turn (1997): sex scene with Sean Penn (0:25) · more on her hub
I’ve staged this move a hundred times and Jennifer Lopez sells it: in The Boy Next Door (2015) her Claire Peterson lets Ryan Guzman’s Noah pull her close, his hand sliding up her thigh, the kisses getting heavier until they tumble into bed. Bare skin, legs wrapped around him, and the camera keeps it just short of nude.
The Boy Next Door (2015): kitchen-to-bedroom sex scene (3:20) · more on her hub
See every Jennifer Lopez scene, ranked, with photos and her latest gossip, on her hub →
What’s confirmed
Confirmed: the costume, the two looks, the Pygar performer, the poster art and the caption come from Jennifer Lopez’s own Instagram post of Oct. 31, 2026, as reported by Entertainment Now, Jang, Mundo Deportivo and Klix and shared widely on X. The Monster-in-Law history and their later reunions are from Entertainment Now. The remake status is from Popverse and Deadline. Not confirmed: whether Jane Fonda has replied, and who designed the costumes; neither was public when we checked. Opinion: everything in Nico’s take.
FAQ
What was Jennifer Lopez’s Halloween costume in 2026?
Barbarella, the space heroine Jane Fonda played in the 1968 sci-fi film. She posted the photos on Instagram on Oct. 31, 2026: a white bodysuit with black straps, thigh-high white boots and a ray gun, plus a torn sheer black bodysuit with silver chainmail and silver boots.
Why did Jennifer Lopez call Jane Fonda her “Monster-in-Law”?
They played rivals in the 2005 comedy Monster-in-Law: Lopez was bride-to-be Charlie Cantilini and Fonda was Viola Fields, the mother-in-law from hell. Her caption read: “BARBARELLA…I dressed up as my Monster-in-Law for Halloween…the original SPACE ANGEL 😇 Love you @JaneFonda.”
Who played Barbarella in the original movie?
Jane Fonda, in Roger Vadim’s 1968 film Barbarella, a space traveler from the 41st century sent to find the scientist Durand Durand. The film is streaming on MGM+ and Pluto, according to Popverse.
Is there a new Barbarella movie with Sydney Sweeney?
It is still in development. Sony and TriStar have Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce, Edgar Wright to direct and Jane Goldman and Honey Ross writing. In July 2026 Wright said: “It’s still in the script stage.” There is no shoot or release date.
Has Jennifer Lopez done nude scenes?
Very few. Her best-known topless scene is in Money Train (1995). She also has sex scenes in U-Turn (1997) and The Boy Next Door (2015), and the famous pole dance in Hustlers (2019). All of them are on her Scandal Planet hub.
— Nico. Fifty-seven, two costumes, one winged angel and a love note to a legend. The scenes behind the legend are on her hub.
Fact-check: Scandal Planet Desk
Follow Nico on X @NicoGrey_XO for my takes before they hit the site.
Halloween photos and reel: Jennifer Lopez / Instagram, as shared on X. Barbarella 1968 publicity still as shared by fans on X. Film clips from Hustlers, Money Train, U-Turn and The Boy Next Door. ScandalPlanet watermark only.
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