Courtney Love’s name is not just limited to her singing career. Over the years, she has appeared in several movies including Miloš Forman’s 1999 biographical comedy-drama Man on the Moon. Love enjoyed her fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole.
Love, however, appeared to have a troubled history with Holywood A-lister actor Brad Pitt. According to reports, Love has stored tremendous hatred for the actor as she claimed that Pitt fired Love from a movie she wanted to be in. It was not smooth, she went on public recalling her history with Pitt.
Why did Courtney Love Go Nuclear After Brad Pitt?
Courtney Love has her eagle eyes set in David Fincher’s 1999 classic Fight Club. Well, “The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!” But Love did. She claimed that she almost played Marla Singer in the film but it didn’t happen for Brad Pitt.
Appearing on WTF With Marc Maron podcast, Love said that the Fight Club director David Fincher had hired her to play Marla alongside Pitt and Edward Norton. However, she lost the role after she rejected a pitch Pitt brought to her.
According to Love, the Bullet Train actor wanted to play her late husband, Kurt Cobain in a project that was being developed by Gus Van Sant. Love said that she turned down Pitt, “I wouldn’t let Brad play Kurt,” she said on the podcast. “I went nuclear. I don’t do Faust. Who the f*ck do you think you are?” she added. Further, Love recalled the conversation she had with Pitt:
“I don’t know if I trust you, and I don’t know that your movies are for profit. They’re really good social justice movies, but…if you don’t get me, you kind of don’t get Kurt, and I don’t feel like you do, Brad.”
There’s no report of Pitt’s commenting on Love’s claim as of yet.
Edward Norton Broke The News To Courtney Love
The role Love had her eyes on eventually went to Helena Bonham Carter. Love said that Edward Norton broke the news to her, who, at the time was romantically involved with Love. Recalling the moment, Love said that he started sobbing, “He was like, ‘I don’t have the power!’”
However, a source close to the film told The Hollywood Reporter that she only auditioned for the role and the “role she was never offered at any point.”
“You cannot be fired for a job you didn’t get. It’s common knowledge that roles are not decided by other actors but by the director,” the source added.
Later, Love took to Instagram to discuss her conflict with Pitt saying that she was not upset about losing the role of Marla but she does not appreciate “the way [Pitt] does business or wields his power.” “I understand how much of a game of roulette casting is. I am not here 22 years later bitching about losing a part playing someone’s side piece in a movie,” Love wrote in the post.
“On the podcast, I recount the day Brad & Gus Van Sant called me from lunch and tried to blackmail me over my role, for the rights to a film about Kurt. I lost my shit on them, and by 7pm I was fired from Fight Club. Every word of this is factual. This was always a secret that I was fine keeping.”
“I’m sure Helena Bonham Carter was utterly meant to be Marla Singer and I do not bear her or Edward Norton or David Fincher or Art Linson — all people whose work & genius I respect immensely — any ill will.”
Further, Love stated the reason to come out to tell the story in public. In 2020, Love said no to Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment and the idea of Pitt’s producing it. But “that was not enough, and I was not heard. I was ignored,” Love wrote. “I told the story because I felt Pitt would not stop pursuing Kurt — unless I said it in public,” she added.
Van Sant’s Cobain-inspired project, Last Days eventually went to Michael Pitt. However, Love said that Last Days was not the film they originally discussed.
Source: The Hollywood Reporters.
