Several sites (including, MTV UK, Ireland Online, Digital Spy) are reporting that Taylor Swift is being lined up to play Supergirl in a remake of the 1984 flop.  The original movie starred Helen Slater as Kara Zor El. 

More after the jump.

An inside source told press, “Hollywood is short of female heroes and the time is right for a new Supergirl.  She has all the right elements to be a positive role model to young girls.”

“A number of young stars are being mentioned for the title role in a Supergirl movie and possible TV spin-off and Taylor is top of that list.”

Although the 20-year-old Swift has become one of the biggest selling artists in the world and won countless music awards, her only film work is the upcoming romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, where she plays Samantha Kenny opposite Taylor Lautner.  (She has also been a guest host on Saturday Night Live.)

The original Supergirl movie was a spin-off of the popular  Superman Film series starring Christopher Reeve.  In fact, the movie featured Marc McClure, who reprised his Superman role as Jimmy Olsen. (I should note that Superman’s role in the film was limited to a poster in a dorm room and an announcement of a space mission.)  Supergirl stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role, Faye Dunaway (who received top billing) played the primary villain, Selena.  And while the movie failed to impress critics and audiences, Helen Slater was nominated for a Saturn Award for her strong performance by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.   In the plot of the movie, Kara is cousin to Superman and niece to Jor-El.  Kara lives in Argo City, a community of survivors of Krypton that somehow survived the planet’s destruction.  However, after Kara loses the main power source for Argo City, she must to go to earth to find it, and bring it back. Upon her arrival, she becomes Supergirl and encounters dangerous battles and unexpected obstacles when a mean spirited woman who practices rituals of the occult takes the power source for herself, and uses it to cause destruction and attempt zenith human status.  Check out the trailer.

Hopefully, the remake will have a different plot.