“Maybe, in my next life I’ll be stronger and able to endure it,” said the Golden Globe nominee for “The People vs. Larry Flint.” “I tip my hat to those who can.”
When Courtney Love hit the screen with her first starring role in a major film in “The People vs. Larry Flynt” opposite Woody Harrelson, the Hole frontwoman and wife of the late Kurt Cobain was a revelation for many.
Stunning audiences and critics alike, she went on to score a Golden Globe nomination for best actress and seemed poised to launch a new phase of her multi-faceted career as a leading lady.
And then she didn’t.
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Five days after the death of the film’s director Miloš Forman, Love reminisced about their collaborations on Instagram, crediting him for the “few years” she “was a professional actress.” After working together on “Flynt,” the two would work together again on “Man on the Moon” in 1999.
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Since that time, Love has appeared sporadically in films and on television, but she never pursued acting the way you might someone who came out of the gate like that to do. As revealed in the eulogy to her late friend, hers was a heartbreaking story.
Of acting, Love said, “It was fun as hell.” She also said that she “stopped being capable of it after a bunch of #metoos.”
“No one would believe me, and it wouldn’t stop,” she continued. “So I left. And I’m good with it. Maybe in my next life I’ll be stronger [and] able to endure it .. I tip my hat to those who can.”
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Her words accompanied a short video of Forman and a couple of shots of her from that year’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony, where she shared that her dress was actually borrowed from Sharon Stone’s closet.
Coming out of the grunge movement as an alternative rocker, Love shared a similar gritty style and image to that of her band, her husband’s band and an entire movement. But in this moment, she recalled that Stone had more than just a dress for her.
“You’re acting too hip. Don’t be cool. F— that,” Love recalls Stone telling her. “You’re a great actress. Stand up straight! Be proud of your work! Be a movie star.”
She went on to add in her own words, “When Sharon Stone is offering you movie star lessons? You take them.”
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But for love she said it was never about “all the glamour” that comes after turning in an award-worthy performance, or from just being a movie star. “I sure do miss acting sometimes,” she said. “To the tune of a great director. One of the greatest experiences as a woman you can have, I think.”
“The trust one can achieve with a great director?” she mused. “It’s one of the most profound things I’ve ever known.”
Love did not go into any details or name any names in regards to the referenced #metoos. All she said was, “One day I might talk about it.”
It’s heartbreaking to think that those kinds of negative experiences not only robbed audiences of what could have been more incredible performances from a great actress, but they robbed Love of something that she truly loved — and on top of that, all the emotional turmoil that she must have endured for it to drive her away from something she clearly felt such passion for.
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