Oren Moverman Takes Over Cobain Biopic

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

"The Messenger" director Oren Moverman will rewrite the untitled Kurt Cobain project at Universal Pictures.

Accrding to Risky Biz: Coming off two Oscar nominations for his directing debut, “The Messenger,” Moverman is in negotiations to rework the screenplay for Universal’s untitled Kurt Cobain project and direct it as well.

David Benioff penned the script back in 2007 based heavily on Charles R. Cross' 2001 biography "Heavier Than Heaven" about the life, music and 1994 suicide of the Nirvana singer-songwriter.

Universal originally purchased the life rights of both Cobain and his widow, Courtney Love, who had already optioned the film rights to the Cross book.

The project was originally setup at Working Title and Reveille. Courtney Love will serve as executive producer.

In 2005, writer-director Gus Van Sant made the fictional rock-and-roll drama “Last Days,” which echoed Cobain’s drug-addicted final trajectory. Benioff did first-hand research with Cobain’s old friends in Aberdeen and Seattle to inform the drafts of his Universal script.

Moverman and his “Messenger” co-writer Alessandro Camon scored Oscar nominations for their original screenplay. Woody Harrelson also earned a nomination for supporting actor as one of two soldiers back in the States who deliver the news of soldiers’ deaths to their families.

Beinoff is an excellent writer, having made his mark with Spike Lee’s “25th Hour” starring Edward Norton, which was based on his own novel. “25th Hour” is one of my favorite movies of all time and easily one of the best of that decade. With all the research he did, Moverman shouldn’t have too much to fix up and hopefully he’ll give the script a nice polish.

Look for this project sometime in 2011.