Love leaves Carpenter's 'Mars' pic due to injury
By Claude Brodesser
Rock crooner turned thesp Courtney Love is literally ankling her role in Screen Gems' futuristic frightener JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS, having injured her ankle earlier this week - ironically while training for the physical demands of the shoot.
Love was getting into better shape for the nonstop actioner in which she would have played a police lieutenant opposite Ice Cube (THREE KINGS, NEXT FRIDAY) and Jason Statham (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS).
According to a production insider, a tight $30 million production budget and an even tighter Aug. 8 production start means Screen Gems brass will not be able to wait for the star to mend and will be forced to recast the pic. No word yet on who may fill her athletic shoes.
Love, who has appeared in pics THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT and MAN ON THE MOON, will next appear in Shooting Gallery's Bob Gosse-helmed JULIE JOHNSON, which wrapped earlier this spring.
Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the GHOSTS script. Sandy King's Storm King Prods. is producing the pic, which will be released domestically by specialty arm Screen Gems, with most overseas territories handled by Columbia TriStar Intl.
Love's publicist, Pat Kingsley, confirmed her injury, but could not speak to whether Love would depart from GHOSTS.
The actress is repped by the William Morris Agency and managed by Untitled Entertainment.
