Living on Los Angeles and loving it, Rose McGowan talks to Courtenay Connell-Toner about her new movie, Ready to Rumble, her Boston terries and why she’d rather stay home with a good book.

CCT: Can you tell me about your new movie, Ready to Rumble, and the character you play?
Rose: I play Sasha; she is a nitro girl. I was like: “What the hell is a nitro girl?” Apparently wrestlers have cheerleaders, which is what she is. It’s actually really quite funny and it’s with David Arquette, Scott Caan, and Oliver Platt who is such a good actor, Martin Landau and some wrestlers too. It was funny, when I got the script it said “Wrestling Movie,” and I threw it away four times. I wouldn’t even read it, and then I finally got yelled at enough, so I opened it and it was actually very, very funny. It’s a big goofy popcorn movie, but that can be a really good thing too. She fancies herself a bit if a diva, but not in a bad way. She’s just kind of another part of the whole goofy cast of characters, if that makes any sense.

CCT: What do you look for in a role?
Rose: Well, I’ve been trying to look for things I haven’t done before, although it’s a little difficult because there’s generally not that much out there. Usually for women, the choice is between a bitch, a hooker, or a drug addict. You try to pick from one those three, basically, the best that is out there for that. I haven’t been acting that long and if you kind of go by the amount of times, then by all rights I should probably just be doing TV guest stars right now. But I’ve been lucky enough to be doing mostly leading roles in films, but at the same time, it’s still almost like any job that anybody in the whole world would try for. You just do the best of what’s out there, and what you can do. I think things can be just kind of campy and fun, and at the same time I am kind of looking for more dramas and things like that. They are few and far between.

CCT: How do you prepare for a role? Are you working on any new projects?
Rose: For Ready to Rumble I had to work out more than normal. I did this movie called Monkeybone with Brendan Frasier that is going to be pretty amazing, and it’s going to be half live action and half animated. The animation is going to be really cool and it’s coming out in the late fall, around Thanksgiving. A lot of the preparation had to do with the massive amounts of technical stuff in terms of face casts, body casts, thing that they could later kind of warp technologically. So, every role is a totally different sort of challenge in that way.

CCT: How do you like spending time in Boston while filming Southie? Any favorite places?
Rose: I spent most of my time in South Boston, and thought the people were really nice there. They were actually the most kind-hearted people. When we were shooting outside on the street and I was cold, they would come and give me a cup of tea, and have me into their living room while they were setting up for another shot. It was great. I had a blast. Donnie Wahlberg took me to a couple of places around Boston. They were all good. Pretty much anywhere he frequents is pretty good. I was really excited about Boston University. I did make a special point of going to the gift shop there because I have two Boston terriers, Fester and Bug. They have all this Boston terriers (BU mascot) memorabilia. I got basketballs and coffee mugs with Boston terriers on them.

CCT: What are your favorite shops in Los Angeles?
Rose: I love a store called Nyse. They have a really awesome cutting-edge clothes that are pretty much one of a kind. Fred Segal, I shop there a lot, and Diavolina, a shoe store that makes these amazing shoes called Sky. I’ve been wearing them for the past couple of years. Actually, I had some special ones made that I am wearing in Monkey Bone. I always try to incorporate some stuff that I really wear in my own life into the movies. It kind of makes me a bit happier and I don’t feel like I’m totally getting somebody else’s influence on me as far as costume design goes.

CCT: Any favorite designers?
Rose: I really am in love with this designer named Michelle Mason lately. She makes a lot of deconstructed clothes like a lot of things that I’ll go to my tailor with and she will try to figure out why half of my clothes are cut up. I wear Anna Molinari a lot. I wear her stuff because it is good for someone who is small, I am pretty small, with very small bones, but I am curvy also.

CCT: Any favorite beauty products?
Rose: I love these skin care products by Bioelements. They are not that common, and a bit hard to find, but definitely worth it. I always, always wear sun block, and I always try to get everyone I know to wear it. I’m Irish so of course I wear a ton of sunblock, but Origins has a great on called Silent Treatment. I have used this on my face for years because it’s paper-thin and does not have that greasy feeling.

CCT: Who do you surround yourself with?
Rose: I have about three or four really good friends. I mean, I know a lot of people, but I can only kind of go out socially about once every three weeks. I tend to go out to remind myself why I don’t like to go out. I mainly just go to the movies a lot. My friends are people that are kind of in the business, like costume designers or producers. people that have a lot of personality, and their own life going on. I don’t really know a lot of actors other than the ones I’ve worked with.

CCT: What are your favorite things to do on your down time?
Rose: I knit a lot. I’ve been knitting on and off since I was three. In the past year I have been making a lot of neat things for my friends and for myself to wear. It’s funny, when I went out the other night to see this band, this lady came up to me in the bathroom. I had a neckpiece and two wrist cuffs on that I had knitted, and she said that she knew the head of Fred Segal Couture, and that she could sell these in a heartbeat. And I’m like: “Yeah, but then I couldn’t wear them any more.” I don’t want to make them popular because if they are popular, then it’s not cool any more. I do stuff like that. I also read a lot. I probably read three books a week.