Rose McGowan has accused her director ex Robert Rodriguez of committing the ultimate betrayal by selling their movie Grindhouse to her “monster” Harvey Weinstein.
Rodriguez previously opened up about casting his then-girlfriend in his Planet Terror project, which was released alongside Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof as part of the Grindhouse double bill in 2007, explaining he chose McGowan as his leading lady after learning she had been blacklisted by the Hollywood mogul, whose Miramax firm was helping to distribute Grindhouse via its Dimension company.
However, McGowan is now sharing her side of that story in her upcoming memoir, Brave, insisting Rodriguez was not the hero he painted himself as, and instead reportedly took advantage of her weakness after she confided in him about her alleged nightmare rape encounter with Weinstein, who she maintains sexually assaulted her at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah back in 1997.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, McGowan claims Rodriguez used her personal distress to play “mind games” on her as they shot Planet Terror, highlighting one scene in which Tarantino, portraying a zombie, terrorizes her one-legged character.
Sharing an excerpt from Brave, the actress writes: “I was in a backward world. I was losing my grip on sanity.”
She goes on to allege Rodriguez then further traumatized her when he “sold our film to my monster”, referring to Weinstein, who she refuses to name in her book.
Meanwhile, she tells Vanity Fair Weinstein’s alleged attack turned her life upside down: “Part of you has been left behind,” she says. “You just got killed… You still have the million-yard stare and don’t know what the f**k just happened to you.”
McGowan is determined to keep speaking out against Weinstein and other alleged predators in Hollywood to put a stop to sexual misconduct in the industry once and for all – and she’s using her memoir to call out “all of them”, including an actor who allegedly molested her on set.
“I’ve had this giant monster (Weinstein) strapped to me for 20 years,” she continues. “He’s always been gunning for me. But that’s OK – I’ve been gunning for him, too.
“They built a motherf**king beast, and they built a motherf**ing problem. I am that problem to all of them. He represents all of them to me. And that’s why he must be slayed.”
Brave is set for release later this month (Jan18).
