Meeting Rose McGowan over the weekend at Comic-Con, she instinctively offered her left hand first. Having injured her other arm weeks ago in the goriest window-related accident I’ve ever heard, she’d flown into San Diego to promote this summer’s Conan the Barbarian, touted as one of the bloodiest action pics of the year. But to hear her tell it, Conan the Barbarian ’s got nothing on McGowan’s last few years when it comes to struggle and pain — and yet, she credits the summer swords ‘n’ sorcery pic with changing her mind about quitting Hollywood.

McGowan points to a number of events that brought her to the brink of retirement a few years ago: “Mean directors,” major injuries, family illness. She was to star in updates of Red Sonja and Barbarella, both with former partner Robert Rodriguez, before the pair split and both projects fell apart, one by her choice, the other not. After two years “out of the game,” she took the role of Marique, a half-witch, half-human villainess with a freaky look and an even freakier psyche, in Marcus Nispel’s Conan the Barbarian — and the hard-R fantasy actioner re-ignited something within.

Movieline spoke with McGowan in San Diego about the injuries that led to her pulling out of Red Sonja, the reason why Rodriguez’s Barbarella remake stalled, how playing the witch with seductive claws and serious daddy issues in Conan revived her passion for acting, and why she might yet move to a farm in Italy in the near future. (more…)

Total Film recently caught up with Rose McGowan, who told us all about Conan The Barbarian and her stalled Barbarella reboot.

On her frightful Conan character, half-woman, half-witch Marique, she said: “I think she’s quite majestic… She is a bit startling at first but I think she’s quite beautiful in her own way.”

Comparing her co-star Jason Momoa to original Conan Arnold Schwarzenegger, McGowan told us: “Arnold is very muscular, but Jason is a beautiful man. His muscles are very different – of the non-steroidal variety.

“If you go back and watch the Schwarzenegger one, he can barely pass his sword from one hand to the other, because he’s so bulky.” (more…)

Rose McGowan has moved on from her failed engagement to Robert Rodriguez – the actress is reportedly dating Hollywood producer Ryan Kavanaugh. McGowan ended her two-year engagement to the moviemaker last year and has now embarked on a romance with producer Kavanaugh, according to the New York Post.

The pair was spotted getting close at Los Angeles nightspot Trousdale last week. And McGowan’s spokesperson refuses to deny the rumors: “They are good friends and have known each other for a long time.”

McGowan was previously engaged to shock rocker Marilyn Manson for two years. After calling it quits with Marilyn, she was romantically linked to TV personality Ahmet Zappa, actor Kip Pardue and magazine editor David Zinczenko. She dated Rodriguez following her split from Zinczenko.

“Red Sonja,” produced by Robert Rodriguez and starring ex-fiancé Rose McGowan, has stumbled upon yet another huge bump in the road. In fact, this one is so big that the entire project is about to be overhauled, starting with the script and ending with the leading actress. McGowan is out and an offer has been made to Megan Fox, Empire Online informs.

Though this was a project that got off the ground with much difficulty, last we heard about it, everything was going just swell. Then, McGowan injured herself pretty badly while shooting for it, required surgery and had to take some time out. And then she broke up from Robert Rodriguez and talk started making the rounds that her new-found love of plastic surgery was costing her role after role. Truth being told, this most recent report could be totally unrelated to McGowan and Rodriguez calling it quits on their much-mediated romance.

A possible replacement for her seems to have been found in the person of Megan Fox. “According to Pajiba’s source, the shadowy and mysterious Hollywood Cog, the offer is out to Megan Fox, who to be fair, is a bit closer in age to the ‘innocent teenager who metamorphosizes into an unparalleled warrior’ than the 36-year-old Rose (Brigitte Nielsen was 22 for the 1985 version). The word on the street is that the project as it previously existed has basically been scrapped, with director Doug Aarniokoski (Highlander: Endgame) also departing, and new writers being sought to draft further drafts of David N White’s script,” Empire says.

Of the old cast, only Rodriguez seems to have remained attached. “Robert Rodriguez does still seem to be attached as producer though. He told MTV not long ago that Red Sonja’s future depended on the box-office performance of Conan. But re-branding the package as a potential solo franchise for the hot-but-untested Fox (Jennifer’s Body was a two-hander; Transformers’ human performers are irrelevant) might just, we’re thinking, make the Hollywood suits that much more inclined to sign some cheques,” the same movie-oriented e-zine goes on to say.

As of now, “Red Sonja” is in what is known as production limbo. Though clearly one of those projects that target a niche fanbase, the film did manage to get even non-fans interested, especially after the teaser poster with Rose McGowan was released a while back. Whether the film will ever get to see the light of day is anybody’s guess right now.

http://news.softpedia.com

It may come to you as no surprise that Kristen Bell is a huge George Carlin fan. But did you know that she once co-composed a musical based on his comedy? The Twitter-Wood feed picked up a few details about her un-produced masterpiece today, and I have to say, someone should get that on stage — soon!

Other Twitter-Wood revelations included Rose McGowan’s willingness to appear on “Mad Men” — yet another move I would support! Several other tweets may be slightly less shocking — for instance, that Tom Felton’s hair-dying adventures have resumed, or that Kevin Nealon makes jokes about Kim Jong Il. You’ll understand when you read today’s Twitter-Wood report below. But first, for those of us out there without ready access to a beach, here’s Miley Cyrus laughing in our faces in the Twitter Pic of the Day.

Twitter Pic of the Day:
@rose_mcgowan1 I’d be in heaven! RT @charmaine_mak: @rose_mcgowan1 would you ever consider appearing on Mad Men?
-Rose McGowan, Actress (“Grindhouse,” “Jawbreaker”)

Rose McGowan and Geoff Keighley are hosting GameTrailers TV Presents: The 2009 VGAs-E3 First Look Special, a blow-out hour-long preview special that teams up with leading game publishers to unveil the most anticipated games of E3 before the game industry’s biggest trade show even opens. The special marks the kick off to the “2009 Video Game Awards” which will air live in December from Los Angeles.

The E3 invasion begins on Thursday May 28 at 11:00 PM ET/PT, when Spike TV premieres “GameTrailers TV Presents: The 2009 VGAs-E3 First Look Special” from the Los Angeles Convention Center, the site of E3 2009.