Courtney Love as Caligula?

by Karina Longworth Jun 16th 2005 // 12:45PM

Filed under: Independent, Celebrities and Controversy, Cinematical Indie

Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli is best known for organizing a performance at the 2001 Venice Biennale, in which former supermodel Veruschka (Antonioni-heads will remember her as the star of the opening photo shoot in Blow-Up) sat on a bench embroidering for four days. Four years later, Vezzoli is back at the Biennale, and this time he's brought a trailer for his new film, an update on Gore Vidal's Caligula. With costumes designed by Donatella Versace and appearances by Milla Jovovich, Benicio Del Toro and Vidal himself, even just the trailer is drawing tons of attention. The Guardian says it's "very funny and very camp", and Artforum's David Rimanelli calls it the "succès fou of" this year's Biennale. And guess who plays the titular Roman emperer? None other than the "authentically bonkers" Courtney Love. Who better to play a sister-seducing, world-class glutton? I can't wait to see pictures.

10 Comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-16-2005 @ 12:57PM

mick du russel said...

I suppose she is a good choice. Love's trashy life and public antics will make her portrayal realistic. I'm really surprised she is still around dispite her rollercoaster spiral to the gutter. I can't for the life of me find any talent in that woman.

6-16-2005 @ 2:19PM

karina said...

"I can't for the life of me find any talent in that woman."

Oh, man - we already had this thread, but let's start it again: you are so wrong.

6-16-2005 @ 2:52PM

mick du russel said...

I beg your pardon Karina. This of course is my personal opinion and in my mind's eye, I couldn't be so right. Love's public excapades fully exemplify everything that she is. That's not saying much. If she wasn't the widow of Kurt Cobaine, she still be an unknown wanna-be with a serious drug habit. I've heard her recordings and I am totally unimpressed.

6-18-2005 @ 12:33AM

Cliff said...

Mick couldn't be more right. She's just horrible in every aspect.Also talentless. I take that back, she was a decent stripper.

6-18-2005 @ 12:31PM

Emily McG said...

Haters need to watch The People Vs. Larry Flynt. And before you say, "that's because all she had to do was--" watch it again. She did quite a lot, and she was incredible.

As a big fan of the original (and Malcolm McDowell in particular) I started to complain about her being cast as Caligula, though, until my attempt at research about this project makes me believe that this was a one-shot deal for the Biennale, not a genuine trailer for an upcoming full-length film. The only quote I found from anyone responsible for it is from Donatella herself, saying "I choose simple opaque jersey for the costumes and inserted the classic Versace symbols such as the medusa and the gold metal chain to give them that contemporary edge." Plus this Vezzoli is supposedly the guy who did the trailer for the original Caligula, and this project allegedly contains lots of outtakes from the '79 version.

I'd like to see it anyway.

There are a few more pics here:
http://www.artnet.com/magazine/people/venice/venice6-14-05.asp

Here:
http://www.glennshadix.com/news.html

One more here:
http://www.artforum.com/diary/id=9133

6-18-2005 @ 2:33PM

Cliff said...

So your best defense of her talent is that she played a convincing junkie/slut? Woodie acted her under the table. her performance was the ONLY downfall of that great movie.

6-18-2005 @ 4:58PM

R U Serious said...

I just wish there was a link to the trailer.

Damned If I Know

6-19-2005 @ 3:36PM

geMixman said...

But Caligula was a man! Why did they employ Courtney love for this?

6-21-2005 @ 1:05PM

sarah said...

first of all,we are all entitled to our own opinions that is the beauty of the first ammendment, so lets not try to throw that away.in my opinion she is a great actress and if she can get people go to the movies and watch her movies than more power to her, i am happy for her, she deserves it after all she has been through. but at the same time i am not justifying her use of drugs but that was the past and people can change and, lets give her the benefit of the doubt that she has cleaned up. i am also aware of the fact that if it wasnt for kurt cobain she wouldnt have been noticed, but everyone gets their fame in different ways and why would she be any different from anyone else in hollywood who has been found in similiar ways? and if you didnt agree with anything i have said in this comment and you will have forgotten everything that i put into this comment i hope u remember this : if u judge people you are only encouraging others to judge and in that way u will be judged because what goes around comes around. -sarah age 14

7-18-2005 @ 4:14PM

j00ey said...

to set the record straight - this piece is a work in its own right - it is a trailer for a fictional remake. signor vezzoli did not make the trailer for the original [in fact he was 8 yrs old when it was made] and it contains no footage from the original movie.