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Courtney Love Interview
What are the effects of speaking your mind and going against the tide? Love: I think that you wake up knowing that you've been honest. I think that's what Woody was saying. Larry, a lot of times, tells scary stories about himself, but he's honest and that's really an important factor to human life. What was it like for you coming into this, a much bigger acting job than you've ever had before, and knowing there might have been some skepticism and even some worries about you? And how did you adjust? Love: I don't mean to be boring, but I think the best thing you can do is do your best, and my life has been always about proving this thing: no one says you can do this; no one says you can do that, and I've seen a lot of people do things that have never been done all the time. So if something hasn't been done, it means absolutely nothing to me. And being around Milos and Woody and Edward [Norton, who plays Flynt's lawyer], and particularly Milos, is great for that because he's so fearless that it's a great lesson to be around him. He really doesn't care if it hasn't been done. And I love being around that because it makes you really fearless. Now that you've got this film under your belt, are you going to do more? Love: I don't know. If somebody comes to me that can use me this well. I think that Milos has used people in his films, historically, really well. He's used the best of them or what he needed out of them the most for his movies. There are a lot of factors. How is acting different from singing at a concert? Love: Well, that's a big issue because you have lyrics that you write that come from your own experience, and somebody else's dialogue. Actually, I think acting is a lot more refined. You have to be more--Milos always uses this word for me: subtlety. He's kidding, I think. But also, when you play music, you don't have somebody directing you. And that's kind of a sexy, weird, strange experience, having this guy tell me what to do and lead me around to do stuff, to just sort of trust him enough to believe that he's using the best of me instead of me being the leader of it. We're like a little temporary band. This is my band right now, and it's a team. But it's different. One is real personal, and the other is real personal; but acting, I think, is more refined. How do you feel about censorship? Harrelson: Well, it certainly resonated with me. For example, Bob Dole called for a boycott of two of the last three movies I've been in. So I had that privilege. I think it's a really important issue. And as a matter of fact, it's okay to boycott. I think that's a great way to get a message across. If you don't like something, then boycott it. Great. I think we should do that more in this country. But I think when guys like John Grisham are talking about bringing a movie to court, then that's a really scary thing [Grisham knew a man who was murdered by a teenager who had watched Natural Born Killers repeatedly]. That's censorship. If the jury ruled in John Grisham's favor, well, it might affect John Grisham's future books and movies too. But in terms of censorship, it's very much alive and well in this country, you know? For example, the M.P.A.A. and [M.P.A.A. President] Jack Valenti said that we could not use a poster, the poster that we should be using right now, in this country--because it was obscene. And yet there's no single image you can look at and say, "That's obscene" on this poster. It's wrong that anybody should have that power, and they do. And now we use this other poster, which I don't think is nearly as colorful or interesting or really says it as well. Love: About the censorship thing, I'd like to say that you all have the right to, I used to say just tell the truth; but actually, you have a legal right to lie about me. You have a right to tell your critical opinion. You have a right to be a horrible right-wing extremist or whatever you want, and I have to honor that right--and that is me being a patriot. People have, you know, stuck cameras in my face and taken pictures of my child. I appreciate that--of course I want to punch the person that does it--but I appreciate that they can do it. When Milos took us to Prague, where he lived, and I saw the bond between people that grew up under a Communist regime, people that literally, if they made drawings, if they expressed themselves in any way, let alone being a woman and playing guitar, forget it. I would end up in a loony bin. And people of my generation, especially, get really bored of hearing about the First Amendment: it's hippie, we take it for granted, it's boring. But it's not. It really isn't. I don't mean to preach, but it does mean something, and it is really important. Where you draw the line with child pornography, whatever, I don't know. I can't answer that. But I do know how I feel about the present moment and censorship. |
