Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are two of Hollywood’s most commercially and critically acclaimed directors, but most people don’t know that the two have been best friends for over a decade. They have also collaborated together in various capacities for Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Desperado. Now they join forces to create Grindhouse, due out in April 2007 and billed as “the two-fisted bloodbath of the year.” The movie’s release will be preceeded by a companion book next March: “Grindhouse: The Sleaze-Filled Saga Of An Exploitation Double Feature.”

Grindhouse will be a true double feature movie shown as two full-feature films separated by faux trailers. Rodriguez is directing the first movie, Planet Terror, which will be a zombie film that combines the spirit of John Carpenter with an era residing within Escape From New York and The Thing. The second film, Death Proof, is Quentin’s domain and promises all the elements of a slasher movie but with his trademark twists.

Rose McGowan appears in both parts of Grindhouse and says of her role, “I, uh, kick Quentin’s ass. Just a little tidbit.” Her character starts the film as a stripper and much later is shown obliterating some serious zombie ass:

“[A]s an amputee who jams a machine gun where her leg used to be and, balanced on her other knee, opens fire on a gang of zombies.”

Some early buzz concerning the casting of Rose in both films was less than enthusiastic, perhaps due her eight year run on the “Charmed” television program. Quite frankly, I couldn’t force myself to ever watch an episode either, but in movies, Rose McGowan is irrepressable. In the first Scream installment, Rose’s Tatum was the only character that didn’t make me want to hurl obscenities towards the screen because her character who fought until the very end. During her deathscene, Tatum showed no less pluckiness: “No, please don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel!”

Rose also told Maxim that she does her own stunts, including getting stuck in the pet hatch of a garage door:

“It was a real garage with a real door, and I went up and down it 20 times. It left me with big bruises all over my rib cage and my back, but I insisted on doing it myself because I think stunt doubles never really look like me. I have a real specific body.”

Other roles played flawlessly by Rose include the black comedies Jawbreaker and The Doom Generation, which boasted the appropriate tagline of “Sex. Mayhem. Whatever” and combines sex, vulgarity, graphic violence, and a tragic ending. That’s a pretty tough bill for an actress in her first feature film.

Also appearing in Grindhouse is Michael Biehn:

“It’s been an absolutely amazing experience on Grindhouse. [I] love Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Rodriguez is an immensely talented guy…and I think it’s just going to be an amazing movie.”

Some of you might remember Michael Biehn as Reese from the original Terminator film. Yummy.

Featured in Death Proof will be Kurt Russell, who will certainly be equally campy as he was in Escape from L.A. Russell will appear as a serial killer named Stuntman Mike who uses a car as his weapon of choice.

As with all things Tarantino, more to come!