Melanie Lynskey did not accept a rose from KISS
Roses are red, violets are blue, Melanie Lynskey refused KISS' rose at a contractually obligated concert, Michelle Williams was there, too.
Detroit Rock City, a teen comedy released in the wake of Jason Biggs having sex with a pie, wasn’t a casting coup for its male leads as much as their female co-stars. The television icons of tomorrow and the stars of But I’m A Cheerleader, Melanie Lynskey and Natasha Lyonne, give Detroit Rock City a solid foundation, considering their characters are named after KISS songs about a wife abandoned for rock ’n’ roll excess and the sixteen-year-old object of Gene Simmons’s creepy desire, respectively.
Since Lynskey is the second closest thing the movie has to a female lead (Lin Shaye does an admirable job as a bible-thumping, rock-hating mother), the experience left a stronger impression on her than Lyonne. In a chat between the actors for Variety, Lyonne admits that she can’t even remember why she has a picture of herself with Lynskey, Jamie Babbit, Clea Duvall, and Michelle Williams in the back of a limousine on the way to a KISS concert. “We had to go to the KISS concert, contractually,” Lynskey reminds Lyonne, “as people who had been in the KISS movie.”
So maybe it wasn’t a But I’m A Cheerleader bonding exercise. Nevertheless, despite the contractual obligations of being the love interest in a KISS comedy, Lynskey dared to refuse a rose from KISS drummer Peter Criss. Lynskey plays the nice girl “Beth” in Detroit Rock City, named after Criss’ signature song about ditching his wife to go on tour with “the boys.” (Honestly, the song also feels like Criss is singing to his mom.) But since the ballad allows the cat-man to step out from behind his kit and take the spotlight, it’s a special honor to receive Criss’ flower, on par with being knighted at Medieval Times. Lynskey, however, opted out of the ceremony and told KISS’ team to “let another lady have the opportunity.” With the benefit of hindsight, Lyonne’s assessment that Lynskey “would not excel on The Bachelor” is spot on.
All in all, the story makes the Destroyer album track “Do You Love Me” feel all the more desperate: “You really like my limousine/You like the way the wheels roll/You like my seven-inch leather heels/And goin’ to all of the shows, but do you love me?” Lynskey gave her answer: No.