By Amanda de Cadenet

Miss Rose and I first became friends via telephone some four years ago since then, she has moved house, fallen in love, done four films, grown her hair really long and got a computer. Actually were it not for the magic of email this interview would not have happened. We did it this way simply because we are both chatterboxes and go way off the point when we get going. And she’s in L.A. and I’m here in London. There are a lot of fickle people in Hollywood, land of the fantasy, but Rose is certainly one of the most unique, honest women I know. Photographing someone who you know very well could be a nightmare, but luckily for both of us, it was a very peaceful day. I really wanted to show a side of Rose that to me is the essence of her. It’s not a side that is really seen publicly. She has a very talked about persona, largely due to the fact that she’s played women who seemingly have rather dark psyches, and perhaps also due to her strength of character. Anyway, the women is a natural beauty who should definitely be in some big make-up campaign. She bakes delicious cakes, gives the kind of presents you’d buy for yourself and sings Robbie Williams songs onto my answerphone for no particular reason.

Amanda: Which, if any, of these words would you use to describe yourself? Quick, wry, generous, driven, hurried, opinionated, sentimental, romantic, sympathetic, bossy, loyal, silly, mischievous, lazy, unique, scared, truthful, worried, optimistic, kind, thoughtful, chatterbox.
Rose: Amanda, these sound like words you’d use to describe me. So, I’d say all of the above except lazy. I’m definitely not lazy.

Amanda: You grew up living in a cult commune in Italy. Was it like the Moonies and how did you get out alive?
Rose: N/A

Amanda: Do you speck Italiano?
Rose: I speak Italian in my sleep sometimes. When I’m in France I speak Italian and when I’m in Italy I speck French. A nervous reaction that renders me ineffective in two countries. So yes/no I guess.

Amanda: When did your love of animals start?
Rose: When I was tree years old I had a pet lamb. I bottle feed him, brushed his coat and occasionally, took naps with him. One day, I went to feed him and there was no lamb. I was told he was someone’s dinner that night. To this day I don’t eat lamb – just in case it’s him.

Amanda: If you weren’t one of the most unique, talented actresses of today, would you consider being a ‘pet rescuer’ full time?
Rose: No, I just rescue whatever is in front of me. People, animals, trees, cars, you name it, I’ve saved it. My friends say I suffer from over-empathy. It’s a pain in the ass to have a conscience.

Amanda: What is the most courageous rescue you have achieved?
Rose: Myself from myself. An ongoing process.

Amanda: How would you best describe Bug and Fester to a strange (please include the pajama wearing and the ball obsession)?
Rose: N/A

Amanda: I find Hollywood today as sexist as it has ever been. what has your experience been?
Rose: N/A

Amanda: In my opinion, you’re very unique. There is no Rose McGowan ‘type’. Has your individualism hindered you in any way?
Rose: It absolutely hinders me, but it’s also why I’m here. carving out your own niche is aggravating and trying. However, it’ll be my niche and no one else will fit in it. sounds claustrophobic, actually.

Amanda: Do you generally choose roles based on strategy or emotional connection to the character and/or story?
Rose: Sometimes you have to do a role that you don’t love in order to get a role that you love. Fucked up? Well, welcome to Hollywood.

Amanda: Have you played a character that has given you the opportunity to really show you ability?
Rose: No.

Amanda: If not, what would that woman be like?
Rose: Someone who is vulnerable, fragile, funny, intelligent, tormented, charming, and with great emotional depth. Some of my favorite characters are Scarlett O’Hara, Anna Karenina, Lara (Dr. Zhivago), Jane Eyre. I can’t wait to portray a three dimensional woman.

Amanda: In Jawbreaker and Doom Generation you play teenage girls. Why do you think that there is an increasing obsession with youth in films today?
Rose: N/A

Amanda: Does it become harder to choose roles that maintain one’s integrity, when the quality of scripts is increasingly low for women?
Rose: N/A

Amanda: Do you have any female role models?
Rose: My sisters, my girlfriends, strong women of the cinema who’ve paved the way, my agent Tracey Jacobs, and all of my favorite heroines – fiction and non-fiction – who’ve given me the strength to deal with another day. This sounds like an fucking awards show speech. Bette Midler is going to show up and sing ‘Wind beneath My Wings’ in a second.

Amanda: Since I have known you, you’ve moved three times. Where was the worst place that you lived?
Rose: When I was a runaway and had to sleep under a house in Oregon. It was muddy as hell, cold and miserable. One night I was woken by a friend of mine being raped by a crazed freak that had found our hiding place. Poor sweet thing. Whenever it rained (all the time), my ears would fill up with muddy water. I came down with a severe ear infection that caused me to wander the streets delirious and hallucinating. the next place was an abandoned church that was crawling with rats. Being a teenager was great.

Amanda: If you had to pick one event that changed you life the most, what would that be?
Rose: Choosing to swim rather than sink, even though others tried to drown me. They still do. F*ck them.

Amanda: Parmesan or Parmigiano?
Rose: Parmigiano, even though I sound like a pretentious ass at least I am a correct pretentious ass.

Rose was born in Florence and raised in Italy in a commune for the Children of God.

She moved to Oregon, then to California.

Director, Gregg Araki met her outside a gym and cast her in DOOM GENERATION (1995).

She went on to star in SCREAM (1996), the first part of Wes Craven’s acclaimed horror trilogy.

A cameo in Araki’s next film NOWHERE (1997) followed.

She has been involved in numerous indie projects since, notably DEVIL IN THE FLESH (1998) appearing as a psycho teen intent on seducing her teacher and JAWBREAKER (1999) in which she plays one of a trio of popular high school girls who accidentally kill the prom queen.

Her latest movies are READY TO RUMBLE (2000), a comedy about a group of obsessive wrestling fans in which she stars with Oliver Platt and David Arquette, and MONKEYBONE (2000) in which she appears alongside Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg.

Rose lives with her boyfriend Marilyn Manson and two Boston terriers called Bug and Fester.