Production of “Grindhouse,” the much-hyped Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez movie opening Friday, ground to a halt last year when Rodriguez fell for his leading lady, Rose McGowan, and his wife found out.
Rodriguez and his spouse of 16 years, Elizabeth Avellan, raised five kids and worked together, with Elizabeth serving as his co-producer on “Grindhouse,” “Sin City,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Desperado” and “Spy Kids.”
But the marriage exploded last April when Page Six reported that Rodriguez, 38, had begun a torrid romance with McGowan, the raven-haired, French-Irish minx once engaged to shock rocker Marilyn Manson and previously linked with Kip Pardue, Ahmet Zappa and Men’s Health stud Dave Zinczenko.
She and Rodriguez first met at Cannes in 2005. But until now the consequences of their shenanigans weren’t fully known. When the director “fell in love with his femme-fatale star . . . he broke up his marriage of 16 years . . . The production had to shut down for a month while he recovered,” Variety reports.
In the meantime, Rodriguez and McGowan are keeping an ultra-low profile. “They arrived in the same limo for the L.A. premiere, but they got out separately several minutes apart to avoid being seen together,” a spy told Page Six.