MTV News: 1.3.97

MTV NEWS: Skin-mag publisher Larry Flynt is now confined to a wheelchair, and his true love, a drug-addicted stripper called Althea Leasure, is long dead of AIDS. But their unlikely saga, which culminated with Flynt pursuing a First Amendment case to the Supreme Court and winning, is now the basis of a major movie, "The People Versus Larry Flynt" -- which, even more unexpectedly, seems about to turn "Hole" singer Courtney Love into a film star. Love, a one-time stripper herself, plays Althea Leisure, and Woody Harrelson plays Flynt, publisher of the aggressively tasteless "Hustler" magazine. Here's more from the stars.

WOODY HARRELSON: Well the first amendment thing was the most important aspect of it, of course, but, his life as a whole was just amazing.

JOHN NORRIS: Aside from encounters with the Supreme Court and a would-be assassin's bullet, a big part of Larry Flynt's amazing life was his wild yet devoted wife, Atlhea, played by none other than Courtney Love, a casting that owes itself, at least in part, to the President of the Czech Republic.

MILOS FORMAN, Director: I did, screen-tested, I don't know, 30 young ladies, and narrowed to 3, and I know that my heart is going toward Courtney but to be sure, I show the screen test of these 3 ladies to a few of my friends and one of them was President Havel, friend since childhood, and he and his wife who is now deceased went crazy about Courtney.

COURTNEY LOVE: I got her sense of style which is really important about a person, what kind of taste in funky early 80s clothes she liked. (smiles)

NORRIS: That came through.

LOVE: Thank you. We worked so hard on that. I thought you might appreciate that.

NORRIS: I could picture her hanging out at the Whiskey or the Roxy.

LOVE: Totally. Like Billy Idol, all the sort of Duran thing, she was North Beach leather out to here, it was so fun, it was sick.

NORRIS: Not a few observers have noted the irony of Courtney playing the role of an ill-fated junkie. But on-screen co-star and alleged off-screen boyfriend, Ed Norton, has a different way of seeing things.

ED NORTON: That's, that's just bullsh*t, I don't have any interest in that opinion, 'cause it's just nonsense, I don't think there's anything about what her life is really like, and that was as much a performance as anything I did or Woody Harrelson did.

NORRIS: Despite a well-publicized tiff over Ms. Love's tardiness upon their first meeting . . .

HARRELSON: I was like "this rock and roll thing about showing up when you want is not gonna happen".

NORRIS: Woody and Courtney were downright chummy by film's end. But don't expect the pair to exchange mixed tapes anytime soon.

LOVE: I put on PJ Harvey in the dressing room, "Rid Of Me," is that a brilliant record?

NORRIS: Yeah.

LOVE: And he said "Take that sh*t off," and I said, "What, and put on that Alanis record again?"

HARRELSON: Courtney had some opinions about Alanis that were unfounded.

LOVE: He didn't realize she's fake, and it's for baby boomers, whatever, it's a phenomenon, and I'm glad we've all made in-roads, so that Alanis can present a safe version of female rage, I don't care. (pause, cracks smile) I'm sorry (to the camera, gets up and laughs) I'm kidding.

MTV NEWS: Ironically, for an anti-censorship movie, the original promotional art for "The People Versus Larry Flynt" -- depicting a crucified Woody Harrelson wearing a stars and stripes diaper -- drew gasps of indignation from the industry-monitoring group, the MPAA -- which is now playing in New York and Los Angeles, and opens nationwide on January 10th.