The Messenger Director Takes on Kurt Cobain Biopic

Posted by on February 18th, 2010   Filed under: Biopic, Music
Source: Risky Business

movermancobain

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard anything about the Kurt Cobain biopic that Courtney Love has been developing with Universal. David Benioff (The 25th Hour, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) was hired to write the script back in 2007, based on the book Heavier Than Heaven by Charles Cross. Since then, Courtney Love has offered her dream casting choices, but the movie has essentially fallen off the radar… until now.

Risky Business reports that writer-director Oren Moverman is currently in talks to take over the project, the idea being that he would rewrite the screenplay and direct it as well. Moverman most recently wrote and directed The Messenger, a fantastic little drama that is up for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars this year. Based on that project alone I would say he has the subtlety and the vision to keep a Cobain biopic from becoming something it shouldn’t be, but if that wasn’t enough, he also previously co-wrote the screenplay for Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, one of the most unconventional musician biopics ever.

I must admit, I’ve a little apprehensive about an “official” Kurt Cobain biopic ever since it was announced, but with Moverman at the helm I am completely sold on the idea. If he can just keep Courtney Love sedated and out of the picture for the majority of the process, I think we’ll get something pretty special out of this project. The only missing piece of the puzzle is the right cast… who do you think should play Kurt Cobain?



  • Mike

    Joe Anderson from Across the Universe. Not only does he look just like him, but he’s proven he’s got the pipes to sing the songs.

    look at this pic of him
    http://i31.tinypic.com/15mikns.jpg

  • Rick

    I AM SO STOKED FOR THIS!
    The thing about Joe though is that he’s got a strong, but soft voice. kurt cobain sang ….well not soft. raspy. literally pushing his vocals to the limit to every song he sang. but this is a hard choice. who do you get to play one of the most respected and influential musicians in rock history? Oliver stone did a good with the doors, maybe he can direct?

  • Mike

    you must’ve skipped their version of hey jude at the end of the movie, lots of rasp. plus a high powered growl is something that can be practiced and learned, unlike good tone and pitch.

  • americansuicideparty

    whats the point, the movies only going to be kurt painting fetuses under a bridge for 2 hours id rather listen to them crooked vultures while putting cigarettes out on my arm.

    kurt should be played by tilda swinton, willem dafoe or peter sellers.

  • rot

    Who should play Kurt? The guy who played A.J. on Sopranos. Sounds weird maybe but do a google search and really look, he is a dead ringer. Noticed it in the last season.

  • Napalm

    Joe Anderson would be perfect for the role.

  • Joe Anderson is a great choice, so is Ryan Gosling.

  • Andy Serkis to play a CGI Kurt.

  • I think River Phoenix would have been great for the part if he were still alive

  • Joe Anderson looks eerily like the late Mr. Cobain.

    I vote for him.

    I also vote to keep the Widow Cobain sedated and out of the picture until she’s of Medicare age. Maybe by then she’ll have managed to purchase herself a clue.

  • Mike H

    how about we skip this whole movie. cobain was a loser and the only good thing that came out of nirvana was dave grohl.

  • Beelzebozo

    I like a lot of the Nirvana stuff, but I am not sure whether a movie about Cobain would be enjoyable as he was such a miserable S.O.B. I have seen Stone’s Movie about The Doors and I must say that if had ever spent more than five minutes in a room with a drunken Jim Morrison I would have punched him out. Like the music, don’t need to know everything about their personal lives. Make a movie about someone truly interesting instead like 19th century explorer Richard Burton or the not so PC author Louis Ferdinand Celine.

  • Phil from Mil

    Its been a long time since ive heard anything about this biopic proceeding.I have mixed feelings about this movie.The good:he made the “kids that dont fit in” feel like theyre not alone and that he made rock resurrect itself.The bad:Courtney Love(self explanatory) shes gonna have the say-so in how the story was (supposedly) told.I think Dave and Krist should tell his story cause they were with him far more than Love especially if the story is going to be told mainly about the music he created.With Love directing…expect a story like Titanic,a love story ending in a tragedy.I wonder if Love will mention El Duce near the end of this movie.