First "fully authorized" Kurt Cobain documentary to be released in 2015

Written, directed and produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen

By Sarah Gray

Published November 25, 2014 5:34PM (EST)

This Dec. 13, 1993 file photo shows Kurt Cobain of the Seattle band Nirvana performing in Seattle, Wash. Nirvana, which changed music and fashion in the 1990s with the punk rock-inspired grunge sound, is joining the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a class with Kiss, Peter Gabriel and Hall & Oates. Nirvana is being inducted in its first year of eligibility. The trio's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit like a thunderclap upon its 1991 release, briefly making the Pacific Northwest rock's hottest scene before the band ended abruptly with singer Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. (AP Photo/Robert Sorbo)
This Dec. 13, 1993 file photo shows Kurt Cobain of the Seattle band Nirvana performing in Seattle, Wash. Nirvana, which changed music and fashion in the 1990s with the punk rock-inspired grunge sound, is joining the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a class with Kiss, Peter Gabriel and Hall & Oates. Nirvana is being inducted in its first year of eligibility. The trio's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit like a thunderclap upon its 1991 release, briefly making the Pacific Northwest rock's hottest scene before the band ended abruptly with singer Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. (AP Photo/Robert Sorbo)

The first fully authorized documentary about legendary musician and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is slated to be released in 2015.

On Tuesday, HBO Documentary Films and Universal Pictures International announced "Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck," which was written, directed and produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen. The documentary was eight years in the making, according to Morgen, and it will include never-before-seen documentation -- recordings, journals, home movies -- from the musician.

"Like most people, when I started, I figured there would be limited amounts of fresh material to unearth," Morgan said in a statement. "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 4000 pages of writings that together help paint an intimate portrait of an artist who rarely revealed himself to the media."

Francis Bean Cobain, Kurt Cobain's daughter, is executive producer; this is the first documentary about the musician made with his family's cooperation.


By Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on innovation. Follow @sarahhhgray or email sgray@salon.com.

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90s Cool Culture Documentary Grunge Hbo Kurt Cobain Music Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit