Rose McGowan on Red Sonja, Barbarella, and How Conan the Barbarian Saved Her from Retirement

What kind of action scenes did you perform in this?

This one was very different action, normally the action tends to be more straightforward. This one is more about her seducing people with her claws, and I decided to play it like a snake -- how a snake charms its victim and then strikes.

Did you get to face off against Jason?

I did fight against Jason. I totally won. [Joking] Conan is dead!

Spoiler alert!

No. [Laughs] Spoiler, Conan's dead! Hello, I'm the new Conan!

What made you decide to take on the role, especially in light of your Red Sonja project? You had come so far in pre-production on that to have concept art and everything and it seemed like it was moving forward.

The thing is, I was already injured at that point, from Planet Terror. My arm -- I was doing back handsprings, which of course they cut out, and my arm planted wrong and snapped. When I was doing the signing for Red Sonja I even had my elbow stuck in a bag of ice, and at that point it slowly started getting paralysis to the point where it was massive nerve damage. I had feeling in the top of my pinky and my ring finger, and that was it. I've since had three surgeries, part of my elbow bone taken out, went in through my wrist and my hand and did a bunch of stuff to bring it back to life. My doctor and my hand surgeon were like, 'There's nothing more we can do for you if you ever injure this again.' And I thought, hmm... That was one of the things with doing Conan. I'm still going to do action, I love action, but I was like, is there a huge chance of me getting major bodily injury, like I tend to do on every movie I do? And they said no. It sucks in a lot of ways, but I really have to protect myself now. It was just, Red Sonja or paralysis? Hmm...

Do you think that risk will take you away from other certain kinds of action roles in the future?

I hope not. That one is just a really high likelihood, and it's all arms. That one's like, you're almost guaranteed it's going to happen, and that's just not worth it to me.

That makes complete sense.

I mean, at the end of the day I'm still a human being.

So were you the one who called off Red Sonja?

I called it. Not worth it. Would have been great, but not worth it.

What happened with the Barbarella remake?

Barbarella -- we had $80 million in Germany, and Robert [Rodriguez] ultimately didn't want to shoot there. He just did not want to shoot in Germany. So that was a pity. And we did amazing tests with Dino de Laurentiis, Colleen Atwood was doing costumes, we were fairly long in prep. It was stunning, amazing stuff. That was a pity, but at the same time that coincided with my father getting really ill and I pulled myself out of the game for two and a half years. Conan was my first movie back, and of all things to say, I had an amazing time and it kind of caused me to fall in love with film again. I mean, you're like, 'Conan the Barbarian?' But I had done some movies before that, for two and a half years, where I was just fed up. I was like, 'I hate these people, I hate these mean directors, why am I doing this, and I'm just done. I just want to be with my dad.' And I had a blast on Conan, had a blast with Marcus Nispel, had a blast with Jason, and it was just like, this is what it's about. It's about fantasy and fun and being somebody else, and people being kind to you as you are kind to them. So it kind of caused me, of all things, to fall in love again with doing what I do again, which nobody would put together with Conan the Barbarian. But it bizarrely did, so I'll be forever grateful to it.

It's also surprising to hear you describe that rough period that turned you off of film.

At the end of the day, I never started out trying to be an actor. That was not my passion, this was not my thing.

You fell into it.

Totally fell into it. And I have a lot of brothers and sisters, and each movie has helped pay for tuition. And then I was like, I only have one left in college, so why am I doing this? But now I want to go back to Italy and live on a farm in Tuscany.

Do you think you'll really do that?

Yeah, I do. I feel more at home there than anywhere, that's where I grew up.

Before you move to Italy, what projects do you have on the horizon?

Right now I'm doing something called The Pastor's Wife, it's a true story. I wanted it to counterbalance Conan, and it's an amazing part.

A total 180?

Beyond 180. I play a church mouse. I play a lady you would walk by on the street and never notice. She's invisible, and it's funny. It was easier for me to play a dirty homeless person than it was to play invisible. It's been funny, it's been interesting. I take pictures of my outfits and send them to my friends and they're like, 'Fashion birth control.' [Laughs]

Conan the Barbarian is in theaters August 19. Click here for more of Movieline's Comic-Con coverage.

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