Trivia / Grindhouse

• Acclaimed Flop: Got good reviews and was generally said that the movies were a good time, but due to audiences being confused on the double feature part of the movie and rumors that Harvey Weinstein sabotaged the release (see below), it didn't break even.
• Acting for Two: Michael Biehn plays Sheriff Hague in Planet Terror and appears again in the fake trailer for Thanksgiving.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $67 million. Box office, $25,422,088. A rare film in that it was outperformed by its spinoffs.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Quentin Tarantino has stated that Death Proof is the worst film he's made. On its own he considers it to be not too bad, but not as good as the rest of his work and says he'll retire before making something as terrible again.
  • Rose McGowan has said she was unhappy because she believed that Robert Rodriguez "used" her after she told him that Weinstein raped her — especially since he sold the film to Weinstein. She took it as a betrayal of trust. She was actually happy the film bombed.
• Defictionalization: Rodriguez's Machete was released in late 2010, Hobo with a Shotgun was released in 2011, and in late 2023 Thanksgiving was released. Word has it Rob Zombie is also giving strong consideration to do a full length version of Werewolf Women of the SS.
• Doing It for the Art: Nicolas Cage agreed to play Fu Manchu in the Werewolf Women of the SS trailer, for free, as a favor for friend Rob Zombie.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Not only was the film a financial failure, but the two films were released separately on DVD instead of in one long package, defeating the purpose of recreating a grindhouse experience. Only in 2010 was the complete package made available... on Blu-ray. Prior to that, the only way you could watch it uncut was through importing the Japanese DVD or catching a showing on Encore.
  • After Harvey Weinstein was fired from his own company for numerous sexual harassment accusations and settlements, Robert Rodriguez revealed in an open letter he cast Rose McGowan as the lead in retaliation for Harvey blacklisting her after one such case (she signed a NDA and couldn't discuss it publicly). He suspected Weinstein screwed over the release of the film for this exact reason. Though as noted above, Rose herself didn't exactly appreciate the sentiment.
• Inspiration for the Work: The idea came to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino when Tarantino set up screenings of double features in his house, complete with trailers before and in between the films. During one screening in 2003, Rodriguez noticed that he owned the same double feature movie poster as Tarantino for the 1957 films Dragstrip Girl and Rock All Night. Rodriguez asked Tarantino, "I always wanted to do a double feature. Hey, why don't you direct one and I'll do the other?" Tarantino quickly replied, "And we've got to call it Grindhouse!"
• Missing Trailer Scene: A few shots of the lap dance scene from the missing reel of Death Proof can be seen in the trailer. The shots of Arlene crawling along the floor to a seated Mike do not appear in the theatrical film.
• No Export for You: The theatrical cut wasn't released on home video in the US and Canada until more than 3 years later (aside from a Japanese DVD release.), (it also showed up briefly on pay cable listings such as Encore) and it was barely released overseas as Grindhouse at all - both movies were released individually, beyond a very limited release in its original form in Australia.
• Stillborn Franchise: Zig-zagged. While at least three of the fake trailers have been spun off into stand alone movies, a true Grindhouse sequel hasn't emerged despite Rodriguez and Tarantino expressing the desire for one and even sharing some ideas for it. At one point Eli Roth and Edgar Wright discussed doing a hypothetical Grindhouse 2 that would have been full length versions of Don't and Thanksgiving, with new fake trailers as well. Thanksgiving would become a separate release on it's own in 2023, but Don't remains a fake trailer to this day.
• What Could Have Been:
  • While it didn't happen, Tarantino considered making a faux trailer himself for a European sexploitation movie called Cowgirls in Sweden.
  • According an interview, Rob Zombie had originally asked Nicolas Cage to play the Nazi doctor in his fake trailer for Werewolf Women of the SS, but Cage said he couldn't play a role like that so Rob Zombie asked him if he would play Fu Manchu. Fu wasn't planned to be in the film, Zombie just came up with it on the spot and Cage agreed, with the part of the Nazi doctor going to Bill Moseley.

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