Post by HollymCombs on Apr 20, 2006 14:53:46 GMT -5
ID (UK) - April 2004
Too independent, too mouthy, too damn smart for Hollywood, Rose McGowan arrived in LA via religious sects, gay clubs and rehab clinics, and showed no signs of changing for anyone. "I always try to do the unexpected," she says, as if it weren't obvious. But now the princess of darkness has seen the light...
Hollywood doesn't know what to do with Rose McGowan. Like an errant, precociously quick child born to rather dim parents, it struggles to control her and never quite succeeds. She is too independent, too mouthy, too damn smart to be managed, and this is her unique offering to the industry. It's both a charm and a curse. "I always try to do the unexpected." she says, as if it weren't entirely obvious.
The relationship has always been like this. In the mid to late 90s when the film industry was turning to supposedly freaky actors (minutes before it discovered Angelina Jolie). McGowan threatened to outfreak them all. She arrived in LA via Italian religious cults, Portland gay clubs and various rehab clinics, and appeared in funny, barely seen cult flicks by the likes of Gregg Araki. She said outrageous things, dressed like a twisted B-movie siren and turned up at the 1998 MTV Awards wearing a piece of gauze. She had That Boyfriend.
A morbidly perfect role in Wes Craven's 'Scream' - death by garage door - plus the heavily documented affair with Manson, which looked so thrilling and scary from the outside, ended up just plain scary (certainly this is close to his reading of the situation anyway) and the drug rumors started. The cool indie parts that should have lead to bigger Hollywood roles simply lead back to more cool indie parts and the girl with the Vargas tattoo found herself being typecast. As I say, Hollywood doesn't know what to do with Rose McGowan.
Of late, it has conspired to sideline the 28-year-old and McGowan, for her part, has sometimes been complicit in the conspiracy. She has picked roles that have ranged from the curiously cool to the misguided to the plain perverse (like, when was a film based on the Broadway show 'Stomp' ever gonna be a great idea?) Taking over two years ago from another prodigal daughter Shannen Doherty, she is currently holed up in the WB network's witchey drama 'Charmed'. It sounds rather like a creative cul-de-sac, but McGowan talks optimistically by opening up various territories and how the show is popular in places like Europe. I don't think she'll be renewing her contract next time around.
Now, in early 2004, when everyone including Brittany Spears claims to have a darker side, McGowan is taking a different tack. The image has been noticeably softened, the hair and make-up mellowed and the traffic-stopping costumes swapped for the playfully elegant. The classically beautiful features that few picked up on first time around (hidden as they always were beneath the trademark slash of blood-red lippie) now shine through. There's a new beau to factor in too - US 'Men's Health' editor David Zincezenko - and with this seemingly more healthy coupling, a new sense of hopefulness in Rose McGowan's life. This is the story so far.
Hello, Rose. What have you been up to today?
Today I've been shooting scenes with a seven-foot-something ogre. They have a lot of tall people and a lot of midgets in LA it's good that they get work.
Are you enjoying working on 'Charmed'?
I am enjoying it, but it's strange. It's not what I expected to be doing. But I always try to do what's not expected of me.
There have been rumors. People were saying that you were gonna quit 'Charmed' this season to concentrate on films again.
Well, people can say what they want - but there's such a thing as a contract. If I went to work in a grocery store, then the network would still take my money from the grocery store. It doesn't matter what I do; I'm under contract.
And your contract isn't up yet?
No (long pause)
Enough said. Do you like the stability of working on a TV show?
[laughs] My bank account likes it. I've always led a very gypsy-like existence up till now, I grew up all over the place, so it's been a very bizarre, odd experiment. But I'll go back to my normal life after it's all finished. I'm still having fun, though. I can get into anything that's kind of ridiculous.
It's quite a family show. Do you have to watch how you behave off screen?
No, not really. Lots of people have morality clauses written into their contracts, like if you're caught snorting coke in the toilets and stuff and stuff, but I don't have any of that.
What are your cultural fixes at the moment?
Have you seen The Simple Life yet?
No.
You must see it. I'm the biggest fan of Nicole Ritchie. Paris Hilton is very sweet but Nicole Ritchie, she seems one pancake short of a stack. She's become my hero.
And your thoughts on Paris' - recent video debut - do you secretly think - 'there but for the grace of God...'
[Laughs] No Glenn, I do not think 'there but for the grace of God' because I've never been stupid enough to have anyone film me. I mean, what are you gonna do? Sit on the couch eating potato chips the next day and watch yourself? I've never understood the logic in that, at all. And I know I'm most likely to break up with that person anyway. I've done a lot of regrettable things but thankfully none of them have been in front of the camera.
What else are you into right now?
I'm reading a book on Eleanor of Aquitaine and listening to the new Kylie Minogue CD, which cracks me up 'cause I love Europop. It's so bad, it's genius. I adore her and I would love to be able to write a pop song like that but I just can't. I'm also listening to a lot of country right now. White trash anthems.
You used to be a bit of a party girl. Do you still go out as much?
Not so much. I spend my weekends flying to New York to see my boyfriend and I can't be bothered with the whole going-out thing. It's too much effort mostly. And I spend so much money on flights.
Doesn't he pay for you sometimes? Isn't he wadded somewhat?
I suppose he does well enough, yes. I'm not one of those actresses that has some twit 23-year-old sitting on the couch all day. Not in this lifetime.
You can't be bothered with boys any more?
I could never be bothered with boys. When I was 15, I was going out with 30-year-olds. Now I look back and think those 30-year-olds were a bit suspect. I'm like you creep!
Why did you go out with them?
Because I could never relate to anyone my age. I had a pretty peripatetic existence and I related much more to artists and photographers and writers than kids my own age. Now I think of fooling around with them and I'm kind of disgusted. I would lie and say I was 19, but I looked about 12.
So this current relationship. Is it a big one then?
Yeah and that's a good way to couch it. Thanks for not asking something dumb like 'Are you guys getting married?' with the guy before this one, I had the biggest problem in that I didn't exactly like. But I like this person very much.
Is life better, being a bit older and wiser?
It's funny. I remember some press I did, the first 'interview' magazine cover. One of the taglines was me saying was me saying 'I'm gonna be pretty kick-ass by the time I'm 30. I can't wait!' Now I'm like 'Shut up *P3*, what are you talking about?' But really, what are you gonna do? I've just been reading about this 114-year-old man in Spain and he's the oldest man in the world and obviously spent more of his life being old than young. It made me want to try and think about life as this big journey....
Right now, it seems like more women in Hollywood are becoming successful at a slightly later stage in life, which has got to be a good thing.
Absolutely and I think that's amazing. Julianne Moore is one of my benchmarks. When I get depressed and I'm stuck in a certain place, I think about how she busted out in her very late thirties. She's an amazing talent and crazy beautiful.
When are you gonna do another film, please?
I was supposed to do one last summer but I was exhausted by the end of the season that I pulled out.
Laziness!
Excuse me, I turned gray I was so tired. I'd like to see most people work 90-100 hours a week. But I'm gonna try to do something in the summer.
Talking to you now, you're not the least how I expected. Do you think people still have misconceptions of you?
I think they're going away slowly I mean, I've never been goth in my whole life. I've never been any label that anybody's ever pegged me on. The misunderstandings around me are huge - but I think they're fading away.
Do you think that on a very superficial level, things like changing your hair colour help that?
Completely. It's so stupid out here it's unbelievable. I actually just changed my hair back to my normal dark brown from red the other day, but before that I'd meet with film people and they'd say, 'we're actually looking for someone with dark hair. I could show every film I'd ever done and I have dark hair in almost all of them, but if they can't imagine it. And these people are directors. It's ludicrous.
Do you think that Hollywood has figured out what to do with you yet?
No, but I don't know what to do with them either. So it's okay. When you don't fit in any niche, then carving out your own takes more time. But I do believe you get there in the end.
Hollywood should write Rose McGowan off at its peril. The bit where the errant child and rather dim parents joyfully reunite is still to come. Currently focusing on the perfect role for her film comeback and also working on some music with one of Pink's producers, she'll be making a ore-than-welcome return from network purgatory some time soon. She is one of those characters that can undoubtedly pull it back, and probably will. She is as smart and sassy and vital as ever. And as startlingly honest. An actress that, now in her late twenties, is just gearing up for her prime. Hollywood needs more Rose McGowan's. It should start with this one.
Too independent, too mouthy, too damn smart for Hollywood, Rose McGowan arrived in LA via religious sects, gay clubs and rehab clinics, and showed no signs of changing for anyone. "I always try to do the unexpected," she says, as if it weren't obvious. But now the princess of darkness has seen the light...
Hollywood doesn't know what to do with Rose McGowan. Like an errant, precociously quick child born to rather dim parents, it struggles to control her and never quite succeeds. She is too independent, too mouthy, too damn smart to be managed, and this is her unique offering to the industry. It's both a charm and a curse. "I always try to do the unexpected." she says, as if it weren't entirely obvious.
The relationship has always been like this. In the mid to late 90s when the film industry was turning to supposedly freaky actors (minutes before it discovered Angelina Jolie). McGowan threatened to outfreak them all. She arrived in LA via Italian religious cults, Portland gay clubs and various rehab clinics, and appeared in funny, barely seen cult flicks by the likes of Gregg Araki. She said outrageous things, dressed like a twisted B-movie siren and turned up at the 1998 MTV Awards wearing a piece of gauze. She had That Boyfriend.
A morbidly perfect role in Wes Craven's 'Scream' - death by garage door - plus the heavily documented affair with Manson, which looked so thrilling and scary from the outside, ended up just plain scary (certainly this is close to his reading of the situation anyway) and the drug rumors started. The cool indie parts that should have lead to bigger Hollywood roles simply lead back to more cool indie parts and the girl with the Vargas tattoo found herself being typecast. As I say, Hollywood doesn't know what to do with Rose McGowan.
Of late, it has conspired to sideline the 28-year-old and McGowan, for her part, has sometimes been complicit in the conspiracy. She has picked roles that have ranged from the curiously cool to the misguided to the plain perverse (like, when was a film based on the Broadway show 'Stomp' ever gonna be a great idea?) Taking over two years ago from another prodigal daughter Shannen Doherty, she is currently holed up in the WB network's witchey drama 'Charmed'. It sounds rather like a creative cul-de-sac, but McGowan talks optimistically by opening up various territories and how the show is popular in places like Europe. I don't think she'll be renewing her contract next time around.
Now, in early 2004, when everyone including Brittany Spears claims to have a darker side, McGowan is taking a different tack. The image has been noticeably softened, the hair and make-up mellowed and the traffic-stopping costumes swapped for the playfully elegant. The classically beautiful features that few picked up on first time around (hidden as they always were beneath the trademark slash of blood-red lippie) now shine through. There's a new beau to factor in too - US 'Men's Health' editor David Zincezenko - and with this seemingly more healthy coupling, a new sense of hopefulness in Rose McGowan's life. This is the story so far.
Hello, Rose. What have you been up to today?
Today I've been shooting scenes with a seven-foot-something ogre. They have a lot of tall people and a lot of midgets in LA it's good that they get work.
Are you enjoying working on 'Charmed'?
I am enjoying it, but it's strange. It's not what I expected to be doing. But I always try to do what's not expected of me.
There have been rumors. People were saying that you were gonna quit 'Charmed' this season to concentrate on films again.
Well, people can say what they want - but there's such a thing as a contract. If I went to work in a grocery store, then the network would still take my money from the grocery store. It doesn't matter what I do; I'm under contract.
And your contract isn't up yet?
No (long pause)
Enough said. Do you like the stability of working on a TV show?
[laughs] My bank account likes it. I've always led a very gypsy-like existence up till now, I grew up all over the place, so it's been a very bizarre, odd experiment. But I'll go back to my normal life after it's all finished. I'm still having fun, though. I can get into anything that's kind of ridiculous.
It's quite a family show. Do you have to watch how you behave off screen?
No, not really. Lots of people have morality clauses written into their contracts, like if you're caught snorting coke in the toilets and stuff and stuff, but I don't have any of that.
What are your cultural fixes at the moment?
Have you seen The Simple Life yet?
No.
You must see it. I'm the biggest fan of Nicole Ritchie. Paris Hilton is very sweet but Nicole Ritchie, she seems one pancake short of a stack. She's become my hero.
And your thoughts on Paris' - recent video debut - do you secretly think - 'there but for the grace of God...'
[Laughs] No Glenn, I do not think 'there but for the grace of God' because I've never been stupid enough to have anyone film me. I mean, what are you gonna do? Sit on the couch eating potato chips the next day and watch yourself? I've never understood the logic in that, at all. And I know I'm most likely to break up with that person anyway. I've done a lot of regrettable things but thankfully none of them have been in front of the camera.
What else are you into right now?
I'm reading a book on Eleanor of Aquitaine and listening to the new Kylie Minogue CD, which cracks me up 'cause I love Europop. It's so bad, it's genius. I adore her and I would love to be able to write a pop song like that but I just can't. I'm also listening to a lot of country right now. White trash anthems.
You used to be a bit of a party girl. Do you still go out as much?
Not so much. I spend my weekends flying to New York to see my boyfriend and I can't be bothered with the whole going-out thing. It's too much effort mostly. And I spend so much money on flights.
Doesn't he pay for you sometimes? Isn't he wadded somewhat?
I suppose he does well enough, yes. I'm not one of those actresses that has some twit 23-year-old sitting on the couch all day. Not in this lifetime.
You can't be bothered with boys any more?
I could never be bothered with boys. When I was 15, I was going out with 30-year-olds. Now I look back and think those 30-year-olds were a bit suspect. I'm like you creep!
Why did you go out with them?
Because I could never relate to anyone my age. I had a pretty peripatetic existence and I related much more to artists and photographers and writers than kids my own age. Now I think of fooling around with them and I'm kind of disgusted. I would lie and say I was 19, but I looked about 12.
So this current relationship. Is it a big one then?
Yeah and that's a good way to couch it. Thanks for not asking something dumb like 'Are you guys getting married?' with the guy before this one, I had the biggest problem in that I didn't exactly like. But I like this person very much.
Is life better, being a bit older and wiser?
It's funny. I remember some press I did, the first 'interview' magazine cover. One of the taglines was me saying was me saying 'I'm gonna be pretty kick-ass by the time I'm 30. I can't wait!' Now I'm like 'Shut up *P3*, what are you talking about?' But really, what are you gonna do? I've just been reading about this 114-year-old man in Spain and he's the oldest man in the world and obviously spent more of his life being old than young. It made me want to try and think about life as this big journey....
Right now, it seems like more women in Hollywood are becoming successful at a slightly later stage in life, which has got to be a good thing.
Absolutely and I think that's amazing. Julianne Moore is one of my benchmarks. When I get depressed and I'm stuck in a certain place, I think about how she busted out in her very late thirties. She's an amazing talent and crazy beautiful.
When are you gonna do another film, please?
I was supposed to do one last summer but I was exhausted by the end of the season that I pulled out.
Laziness!
Excuse me, I turned gray I was so tired. I'd like to see most people work 90-100 hours a week. But I'm gonna try to do something in the summer.
Talking to you now, you're not the least how I expected. Do you think people still have misconceptions of you?
I think they're going away slowly I mean, I've never been goth in my whole life. I've never been any label that anybody's ever pegged me on. The misunderstandings around me are huge - but I think they're fading away.
Do you think that on a very superficial level, things like changing your hair colour help that?
Completely. It's so stupid out here it's unbelievable. I actually just changed my hair back to my normal dark brown from red the other day, but before that I'd meet with film people and they'd say, 'we're actually looking for someone with dark hair. I could show every film I'd ever done and I have dark hair in almost all of them, but if they can't imagine it. And these people are directors. It's ludicrous.
Do you think that Hollywood has figured out what to do with you yet?
No, but I don't know what to do with them either. So it's okay. When you don't fit in any niche, then carving out your own takes more time. But I do believe you get there in the end.
Hollywood should write Rose McGowan off at its peril. The bit where the errant child and rather dim parents joyfully reunite is still to come. Currently focusing on the perfect role for her film comeback and also working on some music with one of Pink's producers, she'll be making a ore-than-welcome return from network purgatory some time soon. She is one of those characters that can undoubtedly pull it back, and probably will. She is as smart and sassy and vital as ever. And as startlingly honest. An actress that, now in her late twenties, is just gearing up for her prime. Hollywood needs more Rose McGowan's. It should start with this one.
