As if Grindhouse didn’t have enough hype over the possibly of receiving a NC-17 rating, reports are now circulating that director Robert Rodriguez had a very explicit relationship with actress Rose McGowan.
The affair happened under the nose of wife Elizabeth Avellan, who served as the co-producer for Grindhouse and several other films by Rodriguez. One source called it “the worst-kept secret on the set. They were going off to his trailer, having meals together… Rose thought some of the crew were treating her differently, and the attitude was, like, well what do you expect when you’re [bleeping] the director?”
According to Variety, when Rodriguez “fell in love with his femme-fatale star . . . he broke up his marriage of 16 years . . . The production had to shut down for a month while he recovered.”
The seeds for the affair were laid at Cannes in 2005 where McGowan, the former fiance of of Marilyn Manson, and Rodriguez were first introduced. A source told Page Six, “When Elizabeth found out, there was an eruption of emotions - an emotional volcano.”
Rodriguez and McGowan are currently separated. They have been married for 16 years and have 5 children. Grindhouse, the cooperative film by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, opens on Friday.
