7:00AM Mark Graham | Up until the point where filming began on Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez’s career was flying. Long considered one of Hollywood’s more prolific directors (
11 directorial credits between 1995 and 2005), the auteur specialised in churning out FX heavy (yet, comparatively speaking, low-budget) B-films that ended up being very profitable for both himself and the studios that released his pictures. But Rodriguez’s life and career began to fall apart as he began an on-set relationship with his lead actress in Planet Terror, Rose McGowan, a relationship that not only ended up costing him his marriage but also one that seriously derailed his career. Most recently, he had been pushing to get studios interested in
his $70 million remake of Barbarella which, natch, would star his new soul-draining harpy love interest. However, nary a studio in the world was willing to take a risk on a movie with that budget that had Rose McGowan as a lead (nor would they touch Red Sonja or
Women In Chains!, two other projects he tried to secure financing for with his flame in the lead). Now, it appears that the friction between Rodriguez’s personal and professional lives landed the pair an all-expenses paid trip on the Splitsville Express. According to Page Six:
