It seems that one of rock’s most cherished provocateurs is in the midst of a whopping makeover, both personal and professional. Love is now acting, not acting up. Earlier this year the singer did cameos as a downtown party girl in ““Basquiat’’ and as a waffle-house waitress in ““Feeling Minnesota,’’ a muddy road movie with Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz. Now there is speculation–hopeful, maybe, but not ludicrous–that she will get an Oscar nomination for her transfixing role as stripper turned junkie Althea Flynt in Milos Forman’s ““The People vs. Larry Flynt.’’ The movie, which stars Woody Harrelson as the infamous publisher of Hustler magazine, is full of darkness and drugs. But, thanks to Love and Harrelson, it is also one of the most touching and triumphant movies ever made about a total lowlife. The Flynts abuse absolutely everything but each other, defying convention in all its forms and crusading for their First Amendment right to publish the smut that, according to the script anyway, keeps America free. (The movie had the honor of closing out the New York Film Festival last week, and opens in theaters in December.)
““When I started to fight to cast Courtney, I heard all kinds of horror stories,’’ says Forman, who ended up posting the insurance bond himself. ““But people don’t know the other half of Courtney Love.’’ Clean. Vulnerable. ““Larry Flynt’’ could be the movie New Courtney made about Old Courtney.
I loved the bemused look you had in ““Feeling Minnesota.’’ It was like you were thinking, ““What is with this movie?''
It was more like, ““What is with this hair? Why did Cameron get the good hair? Why did you take my hair off my head and put it on Cameron, and then make my hair orange?’’ But hey. My hair matched my dress.
Did you do the cameos to prepare for ““Larry Flynt’'?
More to prove to the film community that yes, I, too, can rise at 5 a.m. and get along really well with Teamsters.
It must have been hard to do some of this stuff on screen.
It was really cathartic. A lot of my rock friends have always discounted acting. They think that acting is a process where you say somebody else’s words–usually a man’s–and you’re directed by someone else–usually a man. I have a friend in a band and he was like, ““How could you?’’ So that was how I was taught in Punk Rock Ethics 101: to see acting as petty, not visceral. Well, it is visceral. I don’t know if what I did in ““Larry Flynt’’ is good. I can’t be objective, but I know that I burned myself and that Milos and Woody really got me to be fearless. It’s just like good punk rock.
Aren’t you always fearless?
Well, you know, I made sure there were some beauty shots in there. [She laughs.] But as soon as I knew those were under my belt, I was kind of like, ““Well, Jennifer Jason Leigh would go here.’’ I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I think I’m actually pretty good at that kind of energy. I’m pretty good at tearing down.
It’s hard to watch you shoot up.
I didn’t want to do that scene at all.
Why?
Oh, it’s obvious. You only have to read your own magazine a month back.
You’re talking about the heroin cover.
I just took stripping and dying and doing drugs as stuff that symbolized an archetype I prefer not to feed into.
Did Woody intimidate you?
No. I have really good training with boys. A lot of boys are in bands, so you end up competing with them. You play a festival and you’re like, ““I’m going to kick his ass. Watch this!’’ You say, ““I’m going to be so good we’re going to sell more T shirts.''
Woody doesn’t seem like somebody you’d get along with.
Well, we’re a lot of the same thing in one room. But I love him. He’s a very grounded man. He does an incredible amount of spiritual work. He does yoga. Woody protects himself really well. And he kind of taught me a lot about dealing with the dark stuff.
Was the nudity hard for you?
Yeah, I made a big stink about being naked when I’m dead. I had to lose 30 pounds to do that. Milos said, ““If you can lose 30 pounds I’ll give you this part.’’ In two weeks.
How did you lose it?
Trainer. No carbohydrates. It works.
Were people nervous about working with Courtney Love?
Not after the first hour. A lot of times what you do in your creative process gets thrown back at you as if it’s part of your daily-life persona. But it’s too easy to say, ““She does this onstage, so what must she be like in the kitchen? I bet she can’t cook pasta!’’ That’s just too f—ing easy. I choose to go places like where Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath went–the sort of shadowlands. But then you come back with an intact psyche. You come back with a clear idea of what it’s like over there.
But it’s not like you’re a lamb in your daily life. There was that time you swore at a stewardess.
That was so minor! I barely said a bad word!
Well, you’re nothing if not assertive.
Really? Is that what you think? That’s so wrong. I am so passive. You probably think I go up and swing on the roof, or something. But I am so boring.
You’re making a new album. Is it as ferocious as the last one?
No, it’s not as ferocious. But it’s not polished. It’s not technically fabulous. Because I would rather die.
Is that the worst thing in the world–being polished?
Just about.
Will you make more movies?
I don’t know. This film was like playing. As long as it can be like playing–and it’s not about looking superfabulous and all the other cop-outs. I have to make this record and then I have to tour. I keep getting scripts, and if one’s genius I might do it, but let’s see. It’s chal- lenging. Nobody’s ever really integrated these two things, especially not a rock person.
Your heart still belongs to music?
Yeah. Can I tell you why? Every actor I’ve ever met wants to be a musician, but every musician I know is really glad that they’re a musician. It’s fun and it’s moving and it touches people. I like my job.
