Nirvana's Kurt Cobain Inspired Clint Eastwood Film, 'A Star is Born'

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain Inspired Clint Eastwood Film, ‘A Star is Born’

2012-04-06

Story by Anne Erickson

Screenwriter Will Fetters wrote ‘A Star is Born’ with Kurt Cobain in mind

Clint Eastwood’s upcoming feature film, “A Star is Born,” will offer plenty of shining moments for grunge fans. Screenwriter Will Fetters has acknowledged he wrote the flick’s script around the idea of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain‘s groundbreaking music.

“I said, for me, the framework was if Kurt Cobain never got to go ‘Unplugged’ and survived, and it was 20 years later, now; then he wanted to do that album, with that understanding that he was this grunge icon, that’d be tough to get done,” Fetters told SPIN. “If he was past his prime and no longer someone, how does he get that album? The whole movie for me is this balance between art and commerce, which is when you first start in this business, you are smacked in the face with it.”

This isn’t just another Cobain-inspired biopic or documentary, though. Fetters explains that the new motifs he’ll bring to the movie will update the idea of grunge and risk-taking music for 2012. “The music industry is changing. It’s harder to be a successful artist and to make money off of it, especially if you’re a dinosaur,” he said. “If you’re a guy in your fifties, as an artist in a world of Justin Bieber. If you’re Kurt Cobain now, in your fifties, what do you do? How do you exist in this world? To me, it was almost like this fish out of water situation.” Read the rest of the chat via SPIN.

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based music reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, Loudwire.com and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.