The People vs. Larry Flynt
Short description
The People vs. Larry Flynt tells the story of Larry Flynt, who in the early 1970s built a strip-club business into a publishing empire with Hustler, a magazine far more explicit than its rivals. Its success made him rich and notorious, and his taste for provocation earned him powerful enemies. Legal battles, prison time and a shooting that left him paralysed followed, and his personal life, including his marriage to Althea Leasure, became part of the public story. What began as a fight to keep publishing grew into a broader case about free speech and the First Amendment, ending with a Supreme Court ruling that bad taste is not a matter for the law.
Miloš Forman directed the film, which came after Valmont in the sequence of his features, from a screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Woody Harrelson plays Flynt, with Courtney Love as Althea, Edward Norton as his lawyer Alan Isaacman, and James Cromwell and Donna Hanover among the supporting cast. Oliver Stone was among the producers.
Released in December 1996, the film cost about 36 million dollars and took roughly 20 million worldwide. It holds a 7.3 rating on IMDb from around 105,000 votes and 7 on TMDB from about 1,300 votes, while critics gave it 8 out of 10 across 58 reviews, a stronger verdict than either audience score.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Larry Flynt could have gone to Tom Hanks and Bill Murray. Larry Flynt himself considered Michael Douglas to be the best candidate for it.
- Larry and Jimmy Flynt were also played by brothers Woody and Brett Harrelson.
- The hand that slips a dollar bill into a girl's swimsuit when the credits "20 Years Later" appear at the very beginning of the film belonged to one of the screenwriters, Larry Karaszewski. The other screenwriter, Scott Alexander, appears in a cameo as one of the customers in a bar, also at the beginning of the film.
- Edward Norton's closing speech in the trial is a verbatim reproduction of the actual closing speech by lawyer Alan L. Isaacman in the trial of Larry Flynt.
- Originally, Larry Flynt wanted Ashley Judd to play the role of Althea.
- The Hollywood mansion featured in the film was, in reality, the residence of Larry Flynt in the mid-80s.
- The actor who played Doug, one of Larry Flynt’s bodyguards in the film, was actually one of his bodyguards during the filming.
- The character of Judge Thomas Alva Mantle was a composite of several real-life judges and received his name from one of the screenwriters’ friends.
- The gold necklace worn by Woody Harrelson during one of the courtroom scenes was a genuine, valuable piece of jewelry that belonged to Larry Flynt himself.
- Courtney Love’s insurance payments were so substantial that the film studio refused to cover them. Woody Harrelson, the producers, director Miloš Forman, and Courtney Love herself contributed them out of their own pockets.
- Larry Flint appeared in this film as the judge who sentenced him to 25 years in prison. That decision was later appealed.
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