Kurt Cobain: New Documentary Film

A crew of documentary filmmakers from Los Angeles had been in Aberdeen last week, shooting a documentary on the life of the late Kurt Cobain. The producers are drawing on taped interviews the Nirvana frontman did with Michael Azerrad, author of the Nirvana biography “Come As You Are.”

Using Cobain’s own voice to tell the story and focusing on the place where he grew up, director AJ Schnack said, is the filmmakers’ way of making the Grunge rock star human again -- instead of the untouchable icon his meteoric rise and tragic fall made him.

“I have a nephew and a cousin who have become big Nirvana fans,” said Schnack, 37. “To them, Kurt has become this huge, larger-than-life figure. You’re completely unable to relate to him because he is such an icon. That’s not how I felt about him when he was alive, and I feel like that’s been lost. Especially because of the circumstances of his later life, and his death, I think now it’s not really about the music or the fact that he really was just a human being. And so I really wanted to deconstruct that a little bit, and what better way than to just let him talk?”

Schnack met Azerrad a couple of years ago doing another documentary, and learned he had the tapes. “I knew Azerrad had written ‘Come As You Are,’ but I didn’t realize he had all this material. He told me he had 25 hours of interviews with Kurt, and he wanted to do something interesting and good with it, but he didn’t know what that would be. So I proposed this (film) idea, and that’s how we got started,” Schnack said between shots at the Aberdeen Timberland Library Wednesday afternoon.

The film, budgeted at about $1 million, likely will be sent to film festivals some time next fall, according to Shirley Moyers, the film’s producer and Schnack’s wife.

The film has three sections, Schnack said, starting with Cobain’s life in Aberdeen, then Nirvana’s pre-stardom period in Olympia, then a final section covering Seattle and the band’s explosion into international stardom.

“In book form and various forms of documentaries, a lot of people are trying … to bring family members and band members together to talk about the band, and put Kurt in some kind of context,” the director said. “What I wanted to do was to not do that at all, and not have anyone commenting on Kurt. Because I sort of feel that at this place in history, there’s such a mythology. So much controversy has been built up about him and about his life and death, that I really wanted to get back to how I related to him and Nirvana as a younger music fan, and just let Kurt talk.”

Find more in David Wilkins' article at The Daily World.

Comments

[masticore]

should be interesting.. but the really, let go... it all about the money now....

[jam from pearls]

2nd. he's dead, get over it, although he did make some f the best music ever

[Deadhead_101]

They should let Kurt R.I.P, kurt wouldnt want his life on film for everyone to see!!

[Guitaroooo_Man]

Deadhead_101 wrote:

They should let Kurt R.I.P, kurt wouldnt want his life on film for everyone to see!!

Well I guess thats tough shit. I dont care anymore, I used to care bout nirvana and kurt, but its getting beyond a joke now. its being milked to shit.

[Asago]

well... this isnt milking nirvana, as it has nothing to do with courtney, i'm really looking forward to this!!!

[ibanezrg220b]

I bet this will be cool. I am going to watch this when it comes out. If you people are tired of this or don't like Nirvana, then why read the article and put your 2 cents in. Seems like a waste of time to me. Maybe you should go read a Metallica article or something. Can't wait for this to come out.

[SuperAnalytical]

I'm sort of glad that Nirvana didn't last that long. I love their music, they seem (and seemed in Kurt's regard R.I.P) like all cool guys but I enjoy being one of the only people in my school that can actually talk about the whole career of Nirvana with information some people don't know. This looks interesting, I will definately attempt to get a hold of it.

[joyful womble]

not another one of these, ffs!

[nirvanafan653]

I think that people should remeber kurt for who he was and just let it go.

[Lemmon]

Not really a fan of his music, but he was into The Beatles so he has some taste I guess.

[MusicMan00]

Ya this is pretty crazy seeing how AJ and Shirley are my Aunt n Uncle. Trust me, this is no money stint. I've heard some audio from it and it's really moving. It won't be dramatized bullshit that people make up. It's just Kurt.

[joshsirjoshules]

damn it, you guys beat me to it saying to get over it, damn....

[thefinalcut]

"It's about money" WTF are you talking about? Courtney doesn't have anything to do with this. The budget is $1 mil. The director says he's doing it because he felt Kurt has become mythological after his death. This movies only gonna be released in art houses anyway. Anyone see "Last Days"?

[SlashNX]

Should be interesting if its done right! Kurt Cobain is a very interesting guy to look into, and he wrote some great music too!

[feesk8ordie]

what will they do next??? like, release his ****ing diaries for everyone to see??? oh, yeah, they already did that!

[HazeD]

whats with all the "Let him R.I.P" bullshit. who the **** cares, you think Kurt cares where hes at now? hes got bigger problems.

[Inahrima]

LEAVE NIRVANA THE F*CK ALONE YOU CORPARATE PIRATE BASTARDS!!!!!

[AbsentiA]

I love how no one even bothered noting musicman00's post...

I think this could be a quite an interesting peice. It seems as though its leaning closer to Kurt as a musician than as a pop-culture icon. But I guess that's the point.

[brer rabbit]

"rock and roll forever"

[Grungy_AJ]

Well i dont know if its a good idea or not... Ok it has a plus side to it that, Hey we get to hear KURT's own self-examination as an artist and a person but then again, how can i trust AJ Schnack in that regard, how do i know he is not gonna edit some shit out and totally give us a misrepresentation of KURT ?

Either way, i am gonna take a look at it whenever it comes out and decide afterwards ! Let's hope he does some justice to NIRVANA...

Grunge 'On !

[Bleed_]

its noce to get another thing about nirvana and kurt.. but wtf... with the lights out, last days, and now this? those ****ing geffen bitches just wanna make money off kurt, who was a wonderful person.

[Andras5soul]

not another nirvana release.... f*ck! they are coming out with something new every other month now, im sick of it, let cobain rest, plus im sure we're all sick of the story by now anyway, i am!! by the way, If anybody heard about the movie Last Days about Kurt Cobain, played by Michael Pitt, but didnt get to see it, please rent it or buy it! its an amazing movie, plus ull have a goood feeling about not making a dead legend's producer or management, or owner any richer for living off somebody that died because of them.

[Kram]

All you people cant say anything bout leaving nirvana alone. Why shud you be allowed to complain so leave it to dave and krist.

[Grungy_AJ]

well to be honest with you, i say LAST DAYS and i think it was horrible movie, it has its PLUS points but they can be counted on one hand.
If you want an honest review on this movie, read it here, its really true :

http://www.joblo.com/reviews.php?mode=joblo_movies&id=
1221

Peace and Empathy !

[MusicMan00]

Anyone who thinks this is a corporate rip-off and said that Last Days was a great movie is out of their mind. Last Days took the the end of his life and just changed some names and minor details c'mon. This is only Kurt, and if Kurt didn't want this stuff to be released then why would he do the interview in the first place. All these new releases are all being done by Courtney mostly to get money, yes that's true but this one has nothing to do with her.

[Clarkinator]

I like Nirvana, especially the In Utero album, but this stuff is getting out of control with all the documentaries and what not. Like somone above said, Cobain would not want to do all of this documentary shit. It was stuff like this that made him kill himself in the first place: overexposure and obsession by fans and the media.

[sum_english_guy]

leave kurt to RIP
all this nirvana stuff is gettin beyond a joke now .....
yeah theyre a good band n alll that lot but give it a rest

[supersonic23]

i think Kurt & Courtney, And Last Days Is enough

[istandalone]

sure he was a good musician, nothing amazing though, and he commited suicide, to me that is nothing to be proud of and no reason to have millions of documentaries made about you

[EntropyDriven]

Jesus ****ing christ. Let the guy rest in peace.

[alwd]

istandalone wrote:

sure he was a good musician, nothing amazing though, and he commited suicide, to me that is nothing to be proud of and no reason to have millions of documentaries made about you

you say that he was a decent musician, and your username is based off a godsmack lyric... you're bonked.

[patduganz]

^^^^Awesome burn.

[Thefear411]

kurt was a unique guy and so waws Nirvana, but i think epople need to let it rest already! they werent the best band ever, far from it, but you dont have to make a movie about the guy. im reading abook called "who killed kurt cobain." its trying to find out if he actaully commited suicide or not so you cant say he did unless you have proof.

[ashbassist]

hmm.. yeah it could be interesting.. but honestly.. the more you make these documentries.. the more of a sell out you make Kurt and Nirvana.. and thats the last thing Kurt wanted.. to be a sell out.

[Flea_Metallica]

^How the **** do you make a deadman a sellout?

[Flea_Metallica]

I hate all that Nirvana and Kurt are sellouts bullshit. You want sellouts listen to Greengay

[GNR's Fan]

wel Said ^ Flea metallica

[rockinlewis]

this could be quite good. the story of kurt's life is a good story.

[DISCONNecktie]

im a fan of nirvana but they sriously should let kurt just die and stop selling the box sets and the most retarded " the best of the box set"

[adam sg]

come on, let curt R.I.P. and listin to his music. it says enough!

[kurtshapedbox]

This definately isn't milking it. This is pure heart-felt shit from an adoring fan. Kurt did the interview for a bokk that HE WANTED RELEASED so I'M SURE HE WOULDN'T MIND THE MOVIE BEING RELEASED. It should be an awsome movie and i cant wait to ****ing see it. Rant off.

[kurtshapedbox]

Kurt never sold out. Courtney sold the band out after Kurt was far gone.

[Flea_Metallica]

curt R.I.P

Its Kurt, it says that on the headline. R.I.P Kurt.

[middleclasssam]

leave the poor dude alone, 'come as you are' was a great biography but most of us now know his whole life-story. Anyway, all these movies that are being talked about are vaguely talked about on UG then you never hear of them again. don't get me wrong i love nirvana but jeeeeesssseeee,

R.I.P You ****ing Idiot of a genius

[morello_man]

I appreciate he's good to make movies about, but it has been done.

[Pearson]

How many is that now? 10+? Bloody hell, hes dead for f$%ks sake. Hes definitely not a guitarists, guitarist.

[FunFuBarMan]

Yeah Nirvana is my favorite band, but we should really just let Kurd Rest in Piece

[formaldehyde]

leave kurt alone.

[geenday409]

jeeze, 10 years and theyre still using a dead guy to make money?

[bethchick69]

dont get me wrong, i like nirvana but im starting to question whether he got the inspiration from his nephew and cousin and only took it as an opertunity to make money. :O

[junkhead35]

im a hardcore nirvana fan,but this pisses me off because they are trying to make nirvana so ****ing mainstream(as if they aren't enogh already)and then we will have all sorts of posers,thats not a good thing

[pearlJam_31490]

Inahrima wrote:

LEAVE NIRVANA THE F*CK ALONE YOU CORPARATE PIRATE BASTARDS!!!!!

Honestly leave that poor man alone. Half the reason he's dead was because he didn't want to be famous and talked about and look at this shit ever other week something about them is coming out. Nirvana is my favorite band and kurt cobain has inspired me to be who i am today and i love learning new shit about him but damn leave him alone. half the people making all these comments probably can't even tell me how he died which is pretty sad. Leave him alone.

[Punk as atticus]

he was human, he wasn't larger than life, and he didn't want to be famous either. nor do i want him to be, but thats life, i wish the 80's weren't taken away by such a drastic transition.

[GuitarGodJames]

thanks to all these documentaries and most of the fans who think they should worship Cobain just because the guy died more than ten years ago, because now I FUCKIN hat Nirvana.

[Spl!nTeRgu!tAr]

dude, just leave the guy to rest in peace

[MusicMan00]

READ THIS BEFORE POSTING NEGATIVE THINGS: OK let me clarify some things for those of you that don't really know what's going on with the documentary. First off, this is not being made to capitalize on Kurt, it's to help get his view on his life in his own words. It's also not being made with Courtney or any bigtime corporate company. Second, I don't know if Kurt would approve of all the other releases of other stuff but this is from an interview he did and it's obvious he probably wouldn't care. I agree in that there is some stupid stuff like the best of the box set going on but this is different. This movie is not gonna be played in theaters nationwide, it's gonna be at film festivals which none of you probably go to. Also this movie is NOT about Nirvana or singled around his death. So all in all do yuor research about something before you start ragging on something that you really don't know much about. I'm looking forward to this myself and hope it turns out to be a great film.

[GuitarGodJames]

Typo on that last post if you guys didn't understand, but i'll repeat....

I FUCKING HATE NIRVANA!!!

[m_a_r_c_u]

?To them, Kurt has become this huge, larger-than-life figure...And so I really wanted to deconstruct that a little bit, and what better way than to just let him talk??

Yea, what deconstructs an icon's status more than a movie about him?

[monte]

yeah... they were filming for this at my school (aberdeen high) for the last week.

i hate kurt cobain. he's a loser. he killed himself with a kid. and i know how much im gonna catch about how courtney killed him... but i dont believe it. show me some HARD evidence... not just speculation... then i'll believe it.

[InLovingMemory]

i agree with music man. you all think ur cool cause u don't want it to air cause kurt wouldn't want to. Well SHUT UP ur such hypocrites, if u get the chance to see it YOU WILL. You can call it a scam to get money or w/e but ur gonna watch it and if u say ur not ur a liar.

[AimlessAmoeba]

i think it's a great idea... if you read the article, it's going to be an independant release, secondly, $1million was SPENT on it, and third, like, they're using his own narratives and feelings throughout the entire movie.

They're trying to pull him out of moneymaking icon status back into the Kurt we all knew back when he was alive.

[GnRrelease_it]

Please...its been over 10 years...let the man rest in peace.

just let it go.

[angelgear]

I think you all need to read all of musicman000 quotes. Go through them you lazy bastards

[Grungy_AJ]

GuitarGodJames:
t
hanks to all these documentaries and most of the fans who think they should worship Cobain just because the guy died more than ten years ago, because now I FUCKIN hat Nirvana.

Don't get me wrong but thats a very lame reason to hate a band or artist just because some retarded bunch of people are praising him... Out of all the bands, Nirvana did deserve their praise and they got it and they should get more, thats a fact but comeon, dont hate a band because some posers are starting to like him, hate the POSERS and these PREEPY people... not the actual band, its not their fault !

[Grungy_AJ]

monte:
i hate kurt cobain. he's a loser. he killed himself with a kid. and i know how much im gonna catch about how courtney killed him... but i dont believe it. show me some HARD evidence... not just speculation... then i'll believe it.

So you hate Kurt Cobain because according to you, he "killed" himself. Well first of all, even if he did kill himself, its his FUCKIN life, you have no saying in that, he can end it any way he wants and you can do whateer shit you want with ur life, keep it your own business !

As for proof about Courtney's involvement with Kurt's Murder... Well fine, i might not be able to give you any physical or substantial proof, but how about you give me proof that Kurt commited suicide, do you have any proof ? Just finding a body with a gun doesnt prove anything... there are many things that you don't know kiddo, so pay attention before you speak again !

Grunge 'On

[Nirvana12390]

shut the HELL up. I for one am gonna watch it. And I vote for no more nirvana news on UG, cause this is what happens.

[gynther flynt]

monte:
i hate kurt cobain. he's a loser. he killed himself with a kid. and i know how much im gonna catch about how courtney killed him... but i dont believe it. show me some HARD evidence... not just speculation... then i'll believe it.

just to make things clear, he killed himself with a shotgun, not a kid

A-HA!

[Grungy_AJ]

^
*falls from chair laughing*

[Nirvana12390]

and this^

[Jason144]

I love Nirvana. They made me what I am today. I loved them even before I learned of Kurt's death. I probably won't see this film, as I haven't seen the other documentaries and box sets and such, but I think this film might be a good thing. By the look of the article and MusicMan00, it seems to be the one Kurt himself would have wanted. If you don't want to see the movie, so be it. If you're sick of the ten years in which Kurt's image has gone through, you have good reason. However, there are some people (if you could believe it) that would want to know Kurt from his own words (and not from someone else's). That's who this movie is for.

R.I.P. Kurt.

[Irish Bassist]

looking forward to seeing this but its all getting a little out of hand now,lets just enjoy nirvanas music and leave it at that.
r.i.p
kurt

[Runk]

http://www.kornstreetteam.com/CDA5240F87574D8387EBDE8FE
C733210/tracklink.asp?guid=F5430227D4384450
B7D0E7725116FBCE KoRn's New E-Card

[Flea_Metallica]

Yeah hey guys remember if you got any problems with the news The Martian's the guy to talk too...feel free to e-mail him anytime!!!.

[KerazyPhool]

Jesus as if they havent drained every drop of blood out the poor guys dead body already..

[Black_Widow2005]

leave him alone already! we all know he was murdered, they should be making documentaries about searching for the killer!

[soultresher_20]

this is gonna be great!!! now, the whole world will know the genius!!!

[Cobainrulz]

i really don't care about all the bullshit, i just like to play Kurt's music.

[SilverSwizzler]

Who is this nirvana kurt coban?

[Doll §teak]

i still didnt get the chance to watch
"the last days" ... is it any good?

[nirvanepperoo]

Black_Widow2005
wrote:

leave him alone already! we all know he was murdered, they should be making documentaries about searching for the killer!

****, shut up already, he wasn't ****in murdered he wanted to die, so he did what any other person who wanted to die would, commited suicide and 11 years later you are trying to prove to people he was murdered. leave him alone let him R.I.P.

[sk8zero_5]

if you all hate nirvana and Kurt so ****in much why the **** are you here?!Kurt is like the coolest guy ever man so shut the **** up!!

[st.jimmy14]

Kurt cobain was not a good guitarist, he really couldn't sing, but he wrote heck of good songs, and i worship the guy. I cant wait to see the movie.

[julian_99]

He became the last thing he ever wanted to be, he got lost in his mind. in his last days he probably thought that everyone was against him. Kurt was a great a musician.

[_nirvana_]

I think this film is a great ideal. Even though I was born in 1989 and didnt lived the "NIRVANA period", I red a lot about it and how big it was and I really admire them. But I hate when people (mostly my age) only associate NIRVANA to their big hits like "smells like teen spirit" when nirvana was much more than that. I think that this movie will help people to know more about Kurt Cobain and nirvana and how big it was.

(sorry for my bad english)

[Stratocaster_21]

Know one knows whether he was killed or not but i have seen the Kurt and Courtney documentary and courtney offered someone $50000 to do it but he refused. Those people who are saying leave him alone, its not like they are walking on his grave, they are trying to explore and understand the life of one of the most known musicians in the world. And Gynther Flynt you watch Kurt and Courtney and you will get the evidence and why are you on here if you hate him????

[fender_mustang7]

leave the poor guy alone..hes gone and hes being milked for money...come on.

[Guitar_Dude777]

how the hell are they gunna use his voice?

[Saintsatan]

Strange, Nirvana has tons of songs even after Cobain's death. They have more unreleased songs than released.

[penis rash]

i really don't care what happens

[CoolNamesTaken]

well its sort of good because atleast this way future generations will rememebr nirvana and what they stood for

[drazzx]

more controversy set with with Courtney love said to maybe produce this film/doco