You want to see Rose McGowan take a turn or two in the Excessive Machine. I want to see it. Robert Rodriguez gets to see it every night, but he wants to put it on film…publicly. Universal, however, while interested in paying $19.99 for the homemade DVD or $9.99 for the DRM-free digital download, isn’t interested in ponying up $100 million for the pleasure. So Rodriguez is going studio shopping.
Despite the fact that Rose’s (dual) presence helped rocket Grindhouse to a massive twenty-seven cents at the box office six months ago, Rodriguez has still been holding firm to Rose, or to casting her as Barbarella at least. The Sean Connery movie he put on her finger is what’s really holding her firm to him, in the wake of his split with former wife and producing partner Elizabeth Avellán. (She was the subject of a decent New York Times profile a couple weeks back.)
Writing this article, I’m starting to get a feel for what it’s like to work at TMZ. I don’t recommend it.
Universal is reportedly willing to finance the movie up to $60 million, but Rodriguez, ready to not be famous for doing things on the cheap, is said to figure that ain’t enough. This is complex Grindhouse fallout, but really, can anyone see Universal ever giving up that much money to Rodriguez, even before the failure of Grindhouse? I can’t, in any situation. It’s just more embarassing that this has to come to light over the old ‘casting Sherri Moon Zombie’ saw, especially with the added story baggage of Barbarella being a legacy husband and wife product.