On the S&M-style lingerie favored by her character, the dominatrix Gayle:
Rosario Dawson: “The costume designer actually gave me flowers when it was decided that I was going to actually wear the outfit.”
Robert Rodriguez commentary: “She cut her hair into that Mohawk like in the book. It’s a very weird hairstyle. I was like ‘I don’t know if you want to do it.’ She’s like ‘Aw, let’s go for it!'”
On romancing and battling with her love interest, Dwight (Clive Owen):
Rosario Dawson: “It was wonderful. When I saw [Clive] in Closer afterwards–I completely understood, because his sense of humor is wicked. And I just had so much fun working with him. Because it’s such a crazy character, such crazy dialogue, and we both laughed about it and went gung ho for it. I mean, the first time I walked out in my outfit and I had this robe on and everyone was really good about covering up and stuff like that, and I remember taking it off and [Clive] was like–[she raises her eyebrows appreciatively]. So I’ve got to act with that. And we’re doing these scenes and he’s backhanding me across the face. It was just amazing. He was so game, and I was so game. It’s awesome.”
(Story continues below…)
On the acting pleasures of working against the green screen:
Rosario Dawson: “It was just incredible. You’re standing there in this outfit just completely naked and vulnerable and you have this crazy dialogue, and you’re going okay, I’m just going to cry. And with Robert’s experience–and I was kind of lucky because I came in on the very last segment of shooting, I was there three months into it and got to see a lot of other footage, so I got the benefit of being able to look at it and go ‘Okay, this does look really amazing. I’m just going to do whatever he tells me to do.’ But it was crazy, because you have two people standing there and we would have to move, not the cameras. Normally everything moves around you, and we would have to do everything to kind of go along with what the actual framing was. And we’d have this computer effect where we would take the actual framing from–the books themselves became the storyboards, and every single thing we ended up shooting were exactly to the proportions and standing and distance as to what the [comic book] frame was. So I did this shot with Mickey Rourke that was really done three months earlier where I’m throwing him handcuffs and I was never in the room. But they were able to set that up and it was just amazing.
On going from the detail-oriented locations of Oliver’s Stone’s historical epic Alexander to the stripped-down sets of Sin City:
Rosario Dawson: “Refreshing. It was a really strange thing because it felt epic in the exact opposite way. Because we were actually on location in Morocco and Thailand, and we actually had camels and elephants and all of these things. Suddenly, I’m in the room with absolutely nothing but my outfit. Which is actually more than what I wore in Alexander. It was the most opposite thing you could possibly have gone through, and having two directors was really amazing.”
On why the film is above criticism for its portrayal of violence against women, and the fact that most of the female characters are streetwalkers or strippers:
Rosario Dawson: “I have to say, as women who are interested in the question ‘Are women going to want to see it specifically for that reason?’ I think absolutely. You know [Shellie’s] standing there and yeah, [Jackie Boy] punches her in the face but she threatens to chop someone’s pecker off. All the women who are working in Old Town, we take care of ourselves. We’re very in control of what we are, we know what our assets are, we make money off of it, and we call the shots, which I think is really powerful. I think there’s a really even keel strength between the men and the women. The guys get their balls ripped off, the girls threaten to do it and will, and I think it’s a pretty tough town on both sides.”
Robert Rodriguez commentary: “I think what’s really helped them come and be part of the movie, is that they saw that these are characters that I’m going to come play. It’s not me, it’s not the real world. The men are all criminals, the women are all very strong in their own way, and it’s supposed to be the dark side of life there.”
On having Sin City writer-artist Frank Miller on set as the co-director:
Rosario Dawson: “It was great having Frank there. My uncle Gus is a comic book artist, and we’d go out for beers and go hanging out. And then we’re sitting there having a beer, and all of a sudden we’re talking about blue pencils and paper textures and I’d just be completely ignored in the background. And he’d draw something out and the next day he’d be like ‘That’s actually a good shot,’ and then he’d set it up. What was amazing about it is that it’s really such a significant vision. Sin City‘s in his head, in his body, in how he draws. He breaks pencils all the time, he’s so into it. And everything we wanted to do, it was like ‘How would this look, in your head? How would you have drawn it if this was the direction you wanted to go with it?’ So we stayed completely true to what Sin City is and should be.”
On Rodriguez’s ability to use digital trickery to enhance and not detract from a story:
Rosario Dawson: Robert just has the magic of talent and an understanding of the technology. A lot of people are using all this technology in order to make really cool special effects and things like that, but they’re abusing it because they don’t understand film, they don’t understand story, and they use it as a crutch rather than a tool. This was one where he really just blew me away.”
