CraveOnline: So what more will we see you doing in the long version of Death Proof?
Rosario Dawson: I'm really looking forward to people seeing the extended version because when it comes out a little longer, it'll be about a half an hour longer. And when they're releasing it outside of the country, they're going to be releasing it as separate features and they're going to be doing it a little bit more extended and they're going to be at different times because they don't have the tradition of Grindhouse movies in other places. So I'll be really interested to see how it goes. There's a scene with Mary Elizabeth singing a capella that's missing right now that will be put in at some point that is out of control amazing, so beautiful.
CraveOnline: Is there more ass kicking?
Rosario Dawson: No, there's some more of that incredible, wonderful dialogue that you love that comes from Quentin. There's some really, really beautiful scenes and I can tell you very much that there's some really great beautiful filmmaking. There's some really interesting things that he did with the actual film. He uses a different stock at one point which is very, very cool. It's going to make the look of it very, very awesome. I'm very excited about it.
CraveOnline: What old exploitation movies did you have to watch for this?
Rosario Dawson: I didn't really get any Grindhouse movies to watch. I watched like films like Used Cars and it was only, literally, for one scene, the scene that I do with Jasper. He really wanted to me to have a salesman quip. And so he was like, "You're not thinking at all about your friend. You're not thinking about anything else but selling this guy. This guy who's totally in your face going, 'The colored girl?' and you've just got to go like, 'Yes, the woman of color. And, most important, don't forget number four.'" You've just got to keep going with it because that's what a salesman does and when you watch, it was really crazy because I'm watching a film that was done in the year I was born with Kurt Russell and watching him do it and he's unbelievable. That was actually a really big deal in 1979. That was when the ratings board wouldn't let them, there's that piece where they're selling stuff on the cars and they have penis noses. You'll see at some point you can see it in one of their things that they had to reshoot it and change it because they wouldn't allow the penis noses to be in the shot because it was phallic and it was going to change the rating. That was one of the biggest first things and I was really curious about what was going to happen with this rating. I think we have a hard R I can say. Eli Roth I think is the one that had to change his. That trailer was so crazy that that would have pushed us over to the NC-17. And it's really genius. Actually, of all of them, and I love Rob Zombie so I feel like I shouldn't say this, but Eli's, I have to say, Thanksgiving's the only one that's never been done as a horror. That's like the only holiday that's never been touched as a horror movie. And it looks really badass. A little disgusting really but it looks really great. Like I really want to see that movie.
CraveOnline: Did you want more ass kicking since it's really Zoe and Tracie doing stunts?
Rosario Dawson: I always beg for more but I have to say, I really couldn't have been in the better position. Whenever I was watching Zoe strapped to the hood of the car going 70 miles per hour in 13 below weather, I wasn't envious. When poor Tracie had to sit back at base camp all the time because she wasn't doing all the stunt driving, but I always got to be in the car, I was very happy. I just sat back and just smiled and I got to do 360s and all kinds of great stuff and just have a blast. I was in a really, I think, great position. At first I was very envious but then I realized I was in the perfect position in the film. And then Quentin writes everything down to the last punch, so that last move that I do in the film was something that I showed him. I was like, "I can do this. I think it would look really cool." And we did it on the day. He was like, "This actually looks really amazing. I might have to do a double ending." So I was very excited that it made the film. That was my one, I was like, "I need to do something badass, dammit."
CraveOnline: Does Tarantino purposely pick different women of color for the cast?
Rosario Dawson: I think Quentin really just loves women and I think he's a smart man in that he doesn't get too specific about what he likes. He likes them tall, he likes them short, he likes them different sizes, shapes, colors. I think it's pretty genius. There is a beautiful woman in there that encapsulates what you think of for beauty for every man or every woman out there to admire and look at in this film. And they resonate and they're strong characters and they're very beautiful and they're striking and they're powerful. It's really nice to watch Sydney in the same room as Jordan, to watch Vanessa. You don't see Vanessa's dance right now but Vanessa's dance is out of control. She's one of the most sexiest women I've ever come across in my life and I love that she's sitting there, there's this one scene where she just has her arm resting on her belly. I'm like, "You go, girl." Like it's so nice. There's not these just skinny girls and this false sense of beauty here. It's about every single woman shown, just bleeding out of herself. Just really, really, like Zoe's a very different type of woman than Tracie is and Tracie's very sexy and Mary Elizabeth's very sexy. Jordan's very sexy, Sydney, everybody's got a different style of beauty going on. I think that's really cool, especially for this type of genre where all those girls would normally just be topless and hacked to pieces. Instead they end up on top and they're very striking and that's I think a very cool thing. I think women are going to be very surprised to see what looks like a very gearhead, muscle car dude film and be struck by I think how superior the women are.
CraveOnline: Speaking of powerful women, what's up for Gail in Sin City 2?
Rosario Dawson: Oh, she's coming back with the same outfit and probably something less. I was talking to Nina Procter on this because she's also the costume designer on Sin City and also on this and we were like, "Well, I'm going to be down to a thong and pasties because how do I outdo that outfit?" Luckily, Frank really loves drawing her, maybe not so luckily he liked drawing her in that outfit so I'm pretty much in all the books and we're going to be doing A Dame to Kill For which is sort of a prequel to The Big Fat Kill, which is the storyline that I was in before. So that dialogue conversation that I have briefly with Clive Owen's character about, "I got you a new face and this is how you repay us. You haven't come back here in so long." It's actually talking about what that story is. It's going to be very interesting and the scope is different because it's not three different books put together. It's one. So it'll have a more traditional story arc.
CraveOnline: And it'll be the same black and white style?
Rosario Dawson: It's going to be done exactly the same but I think probably even more superiorly just because now we know what we're doing. So it's pretty cool. I think it's going to be really interesting to see Robert take a second stab at it.
CraveOnline: How's your comic book going?
Rosario Dawson: Comic book's going really well. We have a third issue out after this last issue, the cover of it made runner up of the week for the cover and we're going to be coming out with a fourth soon and a trade. We're in the process, I've been reading a lot of scripts which is very interesting to be reading scripts not for a role for myself but for the actual writing. And we're looking for a writer/director right now to attach to it and hoping that the movie comes out in '08. It's my comic book OCT and it's Bob Weinstein, we're producing it with Dimension.
CraveOnline: How do you like the comic book audience?
Rosario Dawson: I was at Heroes-Con for three days and I’m working the panel and working the 12 Gage Booth and plugging the comic. And people are coming up and asking my uncle, "Is she really enjoying herself? Is she really having fun?" And he’s like, "This is her world, she’s cool with it." And I’m sitting there and I’m like I’m fangirl, hello fanboy! And they’re like, "Seriously?" And we’re talking comics and all kinds of stuff. It was really fun. And this one guy comes up to me and says, "I don’t mean to ask a dumb question, but you seem really nice and kind of cool? How are you so mean in Sin City?" "It’s a job sir! It’s just a job." It’s fun, there is that quality.
CraveOnline: You keep doing these kick ass chicks. Are you avoiding romantic comedies?
Rosario Dawson: I actually thought Clerks was a romantic comedy. I mean, donkey shows do it for me. I don't know about you. But no, it's definitely not a conscious decision. I think if Quentin was doing a romantic comedy, I would've been pushing to be in it because I wanted to work with him but it's really just seeing the material that's out there. I'm really excited about producing the OCT. It's going to be a very specific type of film. I just produced my first feature, Descent, which got picked up at the Tribeca film festival. That's a very dramatic, strong, probably very controversial sexual violent film that explores sexual violence and revenge. Independent.
CraveOnline: Is that what you got arrested for?
Rosario Dawson: No, that's different. At the RNC? No, that was Revolution. At some point, I would really love to do a great romantic comedy. I'm always on the lookout for it but right now it seems like action is kind of where it's at which I'm pretty good at. After watching Zoe do everything that she was doing for six weeks, I'm itching to do some of that stuff.
CraveOnline: Have you seen Planet Terror?
Rosario Dawson: I have seen it. Not all of it. I purposefully showed up a little bit late because I wanted to save some things for myself for the premiere, including Rose's dance and some of the stuff so I got in just as her leg was being ripped off which was pretty cool. I jumped at the opportunity to work with Rob Zombie in Devil's Rejects just because I wanted that opportunity to do that gory kind of stuff. I love those gory types of movies and then I was a Devil's Rejects reject. I didn't even make the frigging movie. But I got my throat torn out by Dr. Satan, it was really cool. I think when you watch this movie, it's a shame on you to Hollywood because these are two really phenomenal directors who are very young putting out a really great experience for people and really talking about the scratches, who does that? Who purposely goes, "Hey, give me money so I can make a movie that I'm going to purposely mess up." Just for the audience to experience something. There is such passion behind that, that's what I want to do. There is no reason why Hollywood is not making greater dialogue, greater women roles, greater experiences for audiences to get up off their butt and not just wait for it to come on Netflix but to actually go to the theater, these people are actually making that attempt with this because they believe in it, that process and without the CGI and without all those different things. I think it's phenomenal and I'm looking forward to how that influence is out there because 300 only exists because of Robert. It's really interesting to see how they've influenced in many, many different ways and it's not just from themselves. It's a ripple effect that I hope continues to happen.
