THE VERY idea of interviewing the bold, brave – and possibly slightly bonkers? - Rose McGowan is as intriguing as a Hollywood thriller.

On the one hand, her rape accusation against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been a #MeToo industry game changer.

McGowan emerged as the blonde-cropped avenger who drove her car at 80mph into a brick wall with Weinstein in the passenger seat.

McGowan had an airbag, in the sense she knew exactly what she was doing, yet, there are feminist groups who think SHE is a self-serving airbag, claiming she’s a TERF (a trans-exclusionary radical feminist,) and a homophobe, after she claimed gay men have done little in the battle against sexism (which is ironic given McGowan describes herself as “non-binary.”)

Rose McGowan starred in Scream in 1996 and the 46-year-old actress certainly can.

Once, horrified by the note on an audition script she received for a new Adam Sandler comedy (“push-up bras encouraged”), McGowan shared it on social media.

When that prompted her agency to sack her, she posted about that, too: “I just got fired by my wussy acting agent because I spoke up about the bulls**t in Hollywood. Hahaha.”

Yes, a woman of conviction - but with double standards? Rose McGowan has described the red carpet system as “visual rape”, yet when she turned up at the 1998 MTV awards with then (rock musician) boyfriend Marilyn Manson, she wore a see-through dress which offered less front bottom covering than a used Tetley tea bag.

She said the dress (or lack of it) was her reaction to having been raped.

We come to her comments later but the conversation opens with her upcoming visit to the Edinburgh Fringe.

McGowan is arriving with her new one-woman show, Planet 9, and her voice is warm as Mars as she explains the premise.

“Planet 9 is a place I created for myself when I was ten years old,” she offers.

“It’s about closing our eyes to reality and going somewhere else. The idea of the Planet 9 project began with an album of music, then I added visuals, with spoken word in between. Then I figured I wanted to bring it to the most awesome festival there is.”

Rose McGowan’s career trajectory began with work as an extra and progressed to leading roles in indie films such as The Doom Generation. After playing a range of aggressive, punk characters, major fame arrived with Scream, followed by the TV series Charmed in 2001.

Yet, she maintains she never sought any of it. “Acting is my day job,” she says in dismissive tone. “I’ve never been seduced by it. It was never my passion.”

Why do it then Rose? “I’d been homeless and I didn’t want to be homeless again. It was something more to be gotten through and do it well, but actually I learned so much.”

She adds; “When you are an actor your words are not your own. Your voice is not your own. I would modulate it with every different role but Planet 9 will let people hear my own voice for the first time.”

McGowan has long struggled with identity. She grew up in a world of near slavery in Tuscany where her American parents Daniel and Terry were part of a cult commune, The Children of God.

The women were there to serve the men sexually and to become live bait to attract new recruits. Young Rose’s parents moved back to the States when paedophilia became part of the cult philosophy.

Thankfully, McGowan wasn’t abused (“I got out by the skin of my teeth”) but this confusing, perverted world had impacted seriously upon the young mind.

Not surprisingly, she became a rebel. And the film industry picked up on this and cast her in rebel roles. “I’d always been the voice of dissent. At school I had a detention every single day for insubordination and pointing out the teachers’ factual inaccuracies.

“Later on, while in the industry, I developed a line in my mouth that emerged as a result of biting down on my gums, all because I had no power. I had to shove it down.”

It must have been an exhilarating moment two years ago when she heard that the New York Times was planning to run the Weinstein “expose”, which resulted in his indictment and international headlines?

“It was more terrifying,” she admits. “And it hadn’t appeared in a vacuum. I’d been fighting for about four years up to that point. But I was happy for a seismic shift to come about.”

How does she feel now about Weinstein currently attempting to NDA himself out of trouble by throwing money at his accusers? (His trial is set to begin on September 9.)

“Well, I think he’s been shown to be a pretty despicable character. The wheels of justice turn slowly but hopefully they will turn in the right direction.”

While you say you were attacked you reached a $100,000 settlement with “the monster”.

How does this square with being at the vanguard of modern feminism? “My head at the time was occupied with the idea of buying a billboard which declared ‘Harvey Weinstein Is A Rapist’ she says in avenging tones. “But no one would let me buy that billboard so I took the money and donated it to a rape crisis centre.”

Where are women now? “I think we are moving in the right direction. Any change in course is a huge leap.”

Does the casting couch still exist? “I think the casting couch doesn’t exist in the sense it’s not about ‘If you sleep with me you will get this role.’ It’s more about if you let me attack you then you will get this role.’ “

A profile in Elle Magazine said the actress was once seen in the industry as a ‘crazy outsider with an axe to grind,’ who became known as a ‘loose cannon—too extreme to risk a project on.’

Has the dissenting voice softened a little? “I was forced to develop my voice as a result of being silenced for a very long time, not necessarily about That Thing. (The Weinstein alleged rape).

“I did what I set out to do because I had a score to settle. So I have. Now, I have the utmost respect for actors who feel it’s their passion and their craft. I just happen not to be one of them.”

Planet 9, The Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, August 15-18.