You have to give her credit…Rose McGowan has endured moreso than almost anyone could expect. When she first popped up in the 90s, she came off as yet another young actress whose talent and looks seemed to be inversely proportionate. But as her theatrical appearances dried up, she found safe harbor in the latter years of the TV show Charmed. Now, she’s staging a big screen resurgence of sorts, currently as the most prominently featured person in the commercials for Grindhouse (I can only imagine that I’d have genuine affection for the shot of her firing rockets from a stratospheric position had I not seen the TV spot 873,000 times…yesterday). Now, she’s going to be stepping into another leading role well-suited to her stature.
Black Oasis is the story of one Susan Cabot, a good-looking B-list actress of the 50s who led a pretty interesting life. After making a mark in cult-y movies (including some Corman material), she was murdered by her own son, who happened to be unstable and stricken with dwarfism. He bludgeoned her to death with a weightlifting bar. If she’s made more of a mark, you’d hear of her fable right alongside the stories of George Reeves and Fatty Arbuckle, but her status consigned this story to Francis Farmer-caliber notoriety.
Stephen Elliot (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Eye of the Beholder) will be at the helm and working from a script that’s an adaptation of a Premiere (R.I.P) magazine article on Cabot’s life.