Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, a documentary examining the life and artistry of the iconic Nirvana frontman, will debut at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. It will premiere on HBO May 4, according to a new press release, and will feature "previously unheard originals" by the singer. Director Brett Morgen worked with everyone from Cobain's former girlfriend, Courtney Love, to the musician's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, who is also an executive producer on the project.
Morgen used "never-before-seen home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, personal archives and songbooks" from the tortured artist to help paint an accurate picture of his short time on Earth. Since Love will be one of the subjects in the doc, the director worked closer with Frances for the film.
"At a certain point, I started working more closely with [Frances]. We [all] agreed that because Courtney was a subject in the film, it would be best if she wasn't given editorial control."
Frances gave Morgen and the doc her stamp of approval on Twitter in November.
I'm really excited for you guys to see Montage of Heck. @brettmorgen created an intense yet wonderful examination of Kurt's life & art.
— Frances Bean Cobain (@alka_seltzer666) November 25, 2014
As the story goes, Love reached out to Morgen in 2007 about creating a film of Cobain's life. Montage of Heck is the first authorized movie about the artist.
"I started work on this project eight years ago. Like most people, when I started, I figured there would be limited amounts of fresh material to unearth," Morgen said. "However, once I stepped into Kurt's archive, I discovered over 200 hours of unreleased music and audio, a vast array of art projects (oil paintings, sculptures), countless hours of never-before-seen home movies, and over 4,000 pages of writings that together help paint an intimate portrait of an artist who rarely revealed himself to the media."
Check out the trailer for another Cobain film, Soaked in Bleach.
