Brad Pitt film 'fired Courtney Love' after she 'refused Kurt Cobain request'

Courtney Love has claimed Brad Pitt had a hand in her losing an acting job back in the 1990s. Love alleged she was originally hired for the 1999 movie, Fight Club, where she was going to play Marla Singer, the love interest of Pitt’s character, Tyler Durden. But the rocker said she lost the role after she denied a request about her husband, Kurt Cobain. 

Cobain was the iconic singer and guitar player from the grunge band Nirvana. Just five years prior, on April 5, 1994, Cobain died by suicide. He was survived by Love and their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.

Love recalled during the latest episode of Marc Marcon’s WTF Podcast that she had secured the role of Marla Singer in Fight Club. She said: “I get the role, so the lawyers have called the lawyers – this is my role.”

However, after landing the role the 58-year-old Hole singer was reportedly approached by American director Gus Van Sant. He pitched a movie to her about Cobain, with Pitt lined up to play her husband. She said: “We’d done all these table reads, I’d gone to work privately with [Fight Club director] David [Fincher], and I get this phone call and it’s from Gus Van Sant, and Gus is having lunch with Brad Pitt… He goes: ‘Brad really wants to do a movie about music.’ It was like the hellmouth opened, oh my God.”

Van Sant reportedly told Love: “We wanna do it about Kurt!”

Love explained: “22 years later I still kick myself for not having the shark instinct to be like: ‘Sure,’ and f**k ‘em later.” Instead, the singer explained, she “went nuclear” on the idea.

“‘I don’t do Faust,'” she allegedly told them. “‘Who the f**k do you think you are?!'”

As a result of this conversation, Love claims she was fired from Fight Club. She said Fincher called her shortly thereafter: “My landline rang and it was David Fincher. I knew it was gonna be him … he fired me because I wouldn’t let Brad play Kurt.”

Daily Express has contacted representatives for Brad Pitt to comment on this story.

Love – who was dating Fight Club’s lead actor, Edward Norton, at the time – went on to say that he couldn’t help her keep the role.

“Edward gets home,” she recalled. “He starts sobbing – his mother had just died, so it was very much allowed – but he was like: ‘I don’t have the power!'”

Meanwhile, a source “close to Fight Club’s production” disputed Love’s claims. They told Daily Mail: “Nearly 25 years ago, Courtney Love auditioned for a role in Fight Club, a role she was never offered at any point.”

They added: “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.”

Despite Love’s comments about Fight Club, she did have some good things to say about her replacement in the movie: Helena Bonham Carter.

The English star went on to win the 2000 Empire Award for Best British Actress for her portrayal of Marla Singer.

Love said: “By the way, God bless Helena Bonham Carter. She’s a genius.”

She also added: “I’ve never seen that film.”

SOURCE / SOURCE

source: express.co.uk