Girl-on-Girl Action

>>This is an excerpt from the new issue of "Rolling Stone," on newsstands until April 19th, 2007.

What twisted minds would come up with Grindhouse, a lurid and most excellent tribute to the Seventies heyday of double-feature exploitation films usually shown in low-rent theaters (hence, "Grindhouse") with sticky floors and sleazy clientele? Try Quentin Tarantino, who directed Death Proof -- one half of the double bill -- featuring Rosario Dawson as a plucky makeup artist sweating it out with two other girls in a Dodge Challenger speeding down country roads at 125 mph with a serial killer named Stuntman Mike (a badass Kurt Russell) in hot pursuit. And try Robert Rodriguez, who directed the other half -- Planet Terror, featuring Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer with a machine gun replacing one leg that's been chewed off by zombies.

Tarantino grew up watching B movies such as Vanishing Point and The Italian Connection at mall theaters around greater Los Angeles. And the young Rodriguez, sitting on top of the family van at a drive-in near San Antonio, Texas, snuck forbidden peeks at The Boob Tube and Alien instead of the family flicks his mom had chosen.

So that's their excuse. But what sort of actress enjoys fleshing out such rabid male fantasies? As Rodriguez confides, "When we started talking about the movie, Quentin said, 'There should always be a lesbian kiss just around the corner -- possibly.' I took that to heart, and in my very first scene, I have two female tongues going at each other and licking. You find out it's Rose licking a mirror, but it gets across the idea that it could be around the corner at any time."

"The way Rose says 'cocksucker' is really great," says Tarantino. "It's the way she emphasizes the c-k. She'll screw up a line and say, 'Aw, fucking cocksucker!' Robert told me once, 'Rose said the greatest Quentin line the other day. She was talking about how she doesn't like the word "whore," and she said, "You can call me a cunt till the cows come home, but don't call me a whore!"' ...

>>This is an excerpt from the new issue of "Rolling Stone," on newsstands until April 19th, 2007.

>> EXCLUSIVE VIDEO! Check out behind-the-scenes video footage from our "Grindhouse" cover shoot, including a Web-only interview with Rose McGowan. Plus: Read Peter Travers' review of "Grindhouse" and interviews with Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright about what inspired their grisly contributions to the film.