Random Little-Known And Awesome Facts About Rob Zombie (20 items)

(#8) He Directed An Episode Of 'CSI: Miami'

In 2010, Zombie made his television directorial debut with an episode of CSI: Miami. According to the Daily News, a friend of Zombie's worked on the show and was eager to get him involved.
"I wanted to see what it was like. Other TV offers have come up in the past, but I never really went after them because I wasn't sure I really wanted to do TV. It's so different from making a movie, because you go into this established situation that sometimes has been going on for years and years," Zombie said.
The episode premiered on March 10, 2010. In the episode, Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez) travel to Los Angeles to help their colleague Jesse Cardoze (Eddie Cibiran), who was accused of tampering evidence.
(#3) He Directed A Woolite Commercial
It's true. The ad debuted back in 2011 and was part of an "alternative" campaign to add a bit of humor - and possibly controversy - to the detergent brand. Zombie stated he tried to make something less overtly "scary" or horrific, and aim for a lighter, "Tim Burton" feel.
(#1) His First Job Was As A Gofer For 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse'

Zombie originally revealed this tidbit in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, and elaborated on his duties in Westword magazine:

It was a cool job to have. But I was probably nineteen years old. It was everything from delivering stuff to doing little crap work around the set. I don't even know if I was a P.A. Whatever is just below a P.A. I'm not even sure it counts as below a P.A., but that was my job. Lowest rung on the ladder -- that would be [the title I give myself for that job].

It was cool, and I liked it. Besides being a fan of Pee Wee Herman, Phil Hartman was on the show. William Marshall, Blacula, was the King of Cartoons. There were all kinds of people I really liked on the show. So it was pretty exciting.
(#15) R Ratings Are No Big Deal To Him

Asked why he was okay cutting his 2016 film 31 down to R ratings, Zombie said:

People don’t really know how that goes. They’re like, 'Hey, man, you should just f*ck the system!' Yeah, alright. It doesn’t work that way. When you make a movie there’s millions of dollars involved. You’ve signed contracts to deliver an R-rated movie. You can’t exactly take millions of dollars and go do whatever you want. Creatively you can, to some extent, but there are always parameters. But as far as cutting 31 down to an R rating, I’ve done that with every one of my movies. It’s no big deal. And eventually the unrated version will come out on DVD or whatever. That’s why I don’t really care. As long as the cuts don’t ruin the movie, and I don’t think they did by any means.
(#5) His First 45 Was The Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine"

In this interview with Graham Hartmann of Loudwire, Zombie plays a round of "Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction," in which Hartmann goes through facts presented on Rob Zombie's Wikipedia page to sleuth what is real and what is totally made up. Hartmann notes that the page states the first record Zombie ever bought was an Alice Cooper release.
Zombie notes that this is technically true, as Cooper's was the first album he bought; however, the first record - a 45 RPM, 7-inch single - was the Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine," which he purchased sometime in kindergarten and played repeatedly, much to the annoyance of his parents.
(#6) He's A Fan And Supporter Of BABYMETAL

In 2016, Zombie met up with BABYMETAL, a Japanese pop-metal group comprised of three pre-teen girls. He posted a snapshot of himself with the girls, stating his admiration for their touring vigor, and saying they have "more energy than 90 percent of the bands we play with."
This actually angered many of his fans, who don't consider BABYMETAL hard enough to merit Zombie's approval. One fan said the group was "a shameful embarrassment to anything metal."
Zombie's response? "Hey, they are nice kids out on the road touring. What are you doing besides being a grumpy old f*ck?"