I expected someone to beat me to the punch about the GRIND HOUSE panel at Comic-Con. Both Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino appeared at the panel -- QT was wearing a rock concert style t-shirt with "RR & QT: Back to Back" printed on it. Also appearing in person, cast members Rose McGowan, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Marley Shelton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sydney Poitier [the daughter, not the father]. I may be forgetting a few more actresses. Anyway, they showed some early footage from RR's segment. QT hasn't started filming yet so he had nothing to show.
GRIND HOUSE is a fascinating project: RR & QT joined forces to produce a 70s style exploitation double bill, complete with scratched up prints, 70s style exploitation film scores and trailers. RR put together a Comic-Con exclusive clip featuring bits of his movie [a zombie flick called PLANET TERROR] plus a hilarious trailer for a film called MACHETE. Words cannot describe it. The 6,000 people in Hall H went wild when they saw it. My jaw hit the floor. It was fabulous. The cast includes Rose McGowan [in a performance you won't soon forget], Michael Biehn, Michael Parks, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Naveen Andrews, Tom Savini. MACHETE is played by the great character actor Danny Trejo. I've forgotten what Tarantino's film is called [DEATH PROOF?], but it's a slasher movie. It stars Rosario Dawson, stuntwoman Zoe Bell ["Xena", KILL BILL] in her acting debut, Sydney Poitier and Mary Elizabeth Winstead [SKY HIGH]. McGowan and Marley Shelton are in both segments. They want John Carpenter to score the film but I'm not sure if they've asked him yet. I think Rodriguez used some music from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in his clip. And Quentin announced that he just signed...
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POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW
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Kurt Russell to play the killer, Stuntman Bob [or something like that]. Zoe Bell plays herself so I assume it's a serial killer on a movie set, or something similar. As I said, RR's stuff was just fabulous. We see Rose McGowan lose her leg and her boyfriend jams a machine gun onto her leg stump, EVIL DEAD style! She then guns down zombies from the back of a motorcycle. They had the poster art hanging down in the exhibit hall, which features a silhouette of McGowan standing on her machine gun leg.
UPDATE: Here's a link that shows the poster, plus the DEATH PROOF poster:
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/6831I don't think that's right what they say about the continuity though. My understanding was that the two films are completely separate, except possibly for the Michael Parks character who has made appearances in several QT and RR films already. Anyway Rose McGowan definitely has a leg when PLANET TERROR begins. She loses it in the film.
They also said that they could do more GRIND HOUSE movies based on the mock trailers that appear in this film. I for one really want to see that MACHETE movie.