David Fincher’s Fight Club wasn’t always considered the seminal film it is today. (Edward Norton and Brad Pitt both have spoken about the movie being booed at early screenings.) Though thanks to home video, the adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name has become a cult classic that is hard to imagine, a frame of which being any different than it is. Still, one of the many behind-the-scenes Fight Club facts is that several actresses were up for the unconventional love interest role of Marla. Singer-turned-actress Courtney Love has claimed that the part was all hers until Brad Pitt fired her for not agreeing to him starring in a film about her late husband, Kurt Cobain. However, a source close to the film’s production says Love’s claims are unfounded and that she wasn’t even offered the role.
A source close to the film’s production told People that Love may have “auditioned for a role in Fight Club, but it was a role she was never offered at any point.” The provided even more comments on the matter, telling the trade:
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.
Not too long ago, Courtney Love appeared on the popular podcast WTF with Marc Maron, where she told a story of being called up by Brad Pitt and filmmaker Gus Van Sant. It was during the chat that they allegedly said they wanted to make a movie about the Nirvana frontman. According to Love, the actor and director phoned her with a pitch that bordered on blackmail. And as she further explained, things didn’t exactly go all that well with that chat. She said:
They both get on the phone, and it was like the hell mouth opened, and I was like, ‘oh my god.’ They said, ‘We want to do it about Kurt.’ This is like 2000, no one has ever done this. Twenty-two years later, I still kick myself for not having the shark instinct to be like ‘sure’ and fuck them later. I went nuclear.
The Man on the Moon actress said this interaction with Brad Pitt ultimately led to her firing. She alleges Fight Club director David Fincher phoned her shortly after her conversation with Pitt and Van Sant and fired her over the phone. The actress told Maron:
My landline rang at 6, and it was David Fincher, and I knew it was going to be him…and yeah, he fired me, because I wouldn’t let Brad play Kurt.
Though an insider close to the movie’s production disputes Courtney Love’s claims, it hasn’t stopped the star from doubling down on her side of the story. The “Faith No More” performer posted a statement to her Instagram, in which she stated that everything she said during the WTF interview was factual and that she “doesn’t like the way Brad Pitt does business or wields his power.” The actress even went as far as saying Pitt “stalked her” for the chance to produce a Kurt Cobain biopic. She wrote:
I understand how much of a game of roulette casting is. I am not here 22 years later bitching about losing a part playing someone’s side piece in a movie… This was always a secret that I was fine keeping… The point is Brad Kept on stalking me about Kurt.
Courtney Love also claimed to have brought the Fight Club project to David Fincher even though she says that she and Fincher are innately “terrified” of each other. I suppose, that is understandable, based on what other directors have said about working with Love. Still, she thought that the two creatives were breaking new ground with their collaboration before reportedly being let go from the project.
What can be said for sure is that Courtney Love is open to sharing her opinions. Whether she’s claiming that Scarlett Johansson should play her in a movie or is criticizing Olivia Rodrigo’s album covers, there’s no shortage of ink being spilled on the infamous rocker’s outlook. One would think that after all this public drama she’ll seek out some peace in order focus on her latest album, which she told Marc Maron is forthcoming and will be her first in years. Perhaps a music hit will pave the way for Love to enter back into the world of acting, albeit on a project sans Brad Pitt?