LOS ANGELES: Director Robert Rodriguez has revealed that he knew actor Rose McGowan was sexually assaulted by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
"My first reaction was one of shock. I recall clearly what I said next, 'My God, why didn't you say anything? People would have stood up for you! And where was your fiance during all this? I would have at least beaten the crap out of Harvey if I had heard that,'" Rodriguez said in a statement to Variety.
Rose McGowan, was one of the first women to accuse disgraced movie mogul of sexual harassment in the New York Times expose.
The director said he met McGowan at an amfAR after party in Cannes in 2005 where he asked her if she has auditioned for "Sin City".
"She told me she was a film noir fan and that she wished she could have been cast in 'Sin City'. I asked her 'Why didn't you audition for it? You would have been terrific.' She said that she couldn't because she had been blacklisted from working on any Weinstein movies," he said.
"When I asked what she meant by that, and how could she possibly be blacklisted, she told me the horrifying story of what Harvey did to her seven years earlier," he added.
Rodriguez said he wanted to have a "bad a** character and make her one of the leads" in his next movie with Quentin Tarantino, which was "Grindhouse".
"I wanted her to have a starring role in a big movie to take her OFF the blacklist, and the best part is that we would have Harvey's new Weinstein Company pay for the whole damn thing," said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez claimed that Weinstein sought to sabotage the film by trying to "bury" it.
"To our horror, Harvey buried our movie anyway, and because we did not want to risk getting sued, we never spoke publicly about the matter. It would have been much easier on both of us if we could have just revealed why we were doing it," he said.
Rodriguez kept quiet until now out of respect for McGowan's wishes and the agreement she had signed.