My days with Woody and Courtney

OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI -- Talk about typecasting: in Courtney Love's first major role, she plays a flamboyant woman who wears skimpy clothes and is often under the influence. Not a big stretch. And even when the camera's not rolling, she's in character, whether she's leaning over a courthouse bench and revealing her derriere, or leaning into the audience of extras to declare: "Woody's America's boy next door, I'm America's bad girl, and he [she points at actor Edward Norton, who plays Larry Flynt's lawyer] is America's dickhead."

Actually, I'm in Oxford on vacation, but after discovering that a courtroom scene for The People vs. Larry Flynt is being shot in the picturesque town square, I've enlisted as an extra. This means 6:30 a.m. cast calls for three 12-hour days, wearing "conservative" clothes, and drawing a check for $50 for each day's first eight hours, time and a half after that.

"Sit around and wait; I'm the man for the job." A voice cuts the room on the first morning. This is pretty much the attitude of the crowd, though several people clearly have more on their agenda -- like the young woman who breaks into song any time a member of the cast or crew comes near. She's the only extra who asks Milos Forman for some direction in her role -- passing notes to a fellow "reporter." Thankfully, she offers us show-tune renditions less and less as time wears on. Also overheard: "No, not Woody Allen; Woody Harrelson, from Cheers."

Me? Make-up decides I need " '70s" hair, so each morning they curl it into Shirley Temple ringlets, which have to be redone up to four times daily. The hairdressers even follow us down to the courthouse with a battery-powered curling iron for touch-ups.

Among the extras, the initial attitude towards Courtney is negative. In the Oxford scene, Love truly does most of her acting after the cameras stop rolling. She delights the extras by straddling court benches countless times, exposing her lingerie. "Did you see those track marks all up her arms?" one woman asks. Later, we find they were make-up. Most of the older extras don't know she's in a band; most of the young ones know but haven't heard Hole. But by the end of our three days, everyone, including Courtney, simply seems more human, and most of the extras appear to feel sorry for her.

The first day of shooting is much more animated for everyone -- the director, the stars, the crew. As they begin a rehearsal of the first scene, Milos Foreman bursts out with a loud "Action" (just like in the movies!) and a louder "Cut." Woody is a comedian, turning to the extras to tell long, not terribly funny jokes, tapping out tunes on the defendant's table, looking for audience response. He practices wheelies in his wheelchair for the next day's scene. Even the crew are more boisterous that day. They never again reach the pinnacle of swearing and vulgarity that they achieve during the first morning's breakfast. I guess even trying to rattle the extras gets old fast.

The screenplay itself is outrageous. In our scene, Jerry Falwell is on the stand, fielding questions about having sex with his mother in an outhouse, about his sobriety during radio ministry broadcasts. But after hearing Flynt tell of his possession of a photo of Mr. "Fartwell" fucking a sheep for the 20th time, we extras have to be prodded into a passably shocked reaction for the cameras.

Hey, this is the '90s. After day one, we get used to Woody strolling around, posing for photos, heading out to Ole Miss for a pick-up basketball game with the girls' team, grabbing his guitar and playing a set at Proud Larry's, one of several music bars in the tiny town square. Courtney is seen on a shopping spree at Square Books, Oxford's legendary Book Store of the South. And me? Despite my mother's advice to "sit up front and show cleavage," I'm seated in the second to the last row of the courthouse, far from Courtney. Look for me.

-- Laurie Hoffma