Rose McGowan’s latest role is the sexually powerful Marique, an evil sorceress who slices up virgin slaves in “Conan the Barbarian,” out on DVD Tuesday. It sees her transformed into a creature with no eyebrows, blood-stained lips, metal talons and a huge forehead. Turns out the 38-year-old beauty loved being turned into a hideous witch.
In “Conan,” you’re almost unrecognizable. What did you think of that look?
I loved it. Every outfit was literally built on my body. They were architectural masterpieces. I had to do some badass killing stuff at the top of this staircase, but I couldn’t walk up the staircase myself. I was like an insect. If you had pushed me and I fell on my back, I wouldn’t be able to get back up on my own. It wasn’t exactly workable in real life, but it looked damn good, and that’s what counts.
So you’re a slave to fashion?
I understand, generally speaking, what looks good. Life, unfortunately for women, is pain. You have a wire under your chest, a thong, heels that push you forward. Life is uncomfortable unless you look like a schlub. I don’t want to look like a schlub, so what’s my option?
Speaking of fashion, do you regret wearing that see-through dress at the 1998 MTV VMAs?
I was bet $100,000 I wouldn’t wear it. I won $100,000.
Who bet you?
That’s private.
It’s interesting that even in a huge summer flick, you bring something to the character that’s . . .
Subversive? I try. I love the idea of doing a big popcorn movie and then doing something strange in it.
Marique gets it pretty good in the end. What’s the closest you’ve come to death?
Oh, goodness. I’ve been in some pickles. But probably the closest I’ve been to death was my first job, working at a funeral home.
What did you do there?
Set up the viewings. I could never do that now. It was as if I was sweeping up the sidewalk. I had zero emotion about it. In retrospect, there were a lot of things I could have lived without seeing.
How old were you?
Maybe 14. You take what you can get.
You couldn’t get a job at Mickey D’s?
I would never. Given the choice right now, if you said, “What would you do?” I would go to the funeral home in a heartbeat. That’s a different kind of death.
You seem more New York than LA. As a woman of intellect, how have you lasted so long there?
It’s hard, I’m not going to lie. But people say, “Oh, LA, it’s so Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan,” but you have to understand they are from New York. They started on the East Coast. We just got stuck with them.