Cannes premiere for Tarantino film

A reworked version of Quentin Tarantino's 'Grindhouse' arrived at the Cannes Film Festival today after an original double-bill featuring the cult director's film flopped at the US box office.

'Death Proof', starring Kurt Russell, 56, and Rosario Dawson, 28, originally ran as part of 'Grindhouse', a double-feature homage to 70s exploitation movies directed by Tarantino and Sin City filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

But the high-profile $100m (€74.29m) film was cut into two for European cinema-goers after Grindhouse took only $12m (€8.9m) at its Easter holiday weekend US opening.

Tarantino, 44, is a favourite at Cannes - 'Pulp Fiction' won the Palme d'Or in 1994 and the director was jury president in 2004.

'Death Proof', which gets its European premiere in the South of France tonight, features Hollywood star Russell as a deranged stuntman who goes out on the road in the car he has built as a killing machine to murder groups of young women.

The movie, which features an ensemble cast of sassy female characters, has been selected for this year's festival competition.

Today the 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Kill Bill' director said he was inspired by "slasher films" but "wanted to do something a little bit different".

He said of the female characters: "Everyone asks: 'Is this a revenge film, empowering women?' But exploitation movies from all over the world have dealt with female heroes in a way that Hollywood never did."

Tarantino said of being at the world-famous film festival: "To me it's always been Mount Olympus. To be a favourite son of Cannes is an honour, it's where the Gods go, where the greatest films ever get their first screenings", adding that winning the Palme d'Or was the "proudest moment of my career".

Russell said he was "disappointed" that the audience "won't get the 'Grindhouse' experience", adding: "That's what it's about for me. There won't be anything there like this for the next five years.

"These two movies are going to go off by themselves. They're going to have their own lives but my prediction is that in the next 20 years you will want the 'Grindhouse' experience. … The full experience is something bizarre, I'd never seen it before."

Parts of the movie, such as a lapdance, were not shown in the original double-bill but have been put back into 'Death Proof'.

Executive producer Harvey Weinstein defended the decision to split 'Grindhouse' and re-edit 'Death Proof', saying last night's screening had been met with a positive response.

"You see Robert Rodriguez making a Robert Rodriguez movie and Quentin Tarantino making a Quentin Tarantino movie," he said, adding of the original: "It's like saying you cut 'Sin City' and 'Kill Bill' to a 70-minute version because you want to call it 'Grindhouse'."

Exploitation films, featuring drugs, illicit sex and relying heavily on the advertising of their contents, were popularised in the 1960s.