Courtney Love Wants Ryan Gosling and Scarlett Johansson for Kurt Cobain Biopic
We’ve been hearing rumblings for the past year or so that Courtney Love is taking it upon herself to put together a biopic about her husband, the late great Kurt Cobain. The last major news to crop up on this project was that David Benioff (The 25th Hour, The Kite Runner) would adapt the script from the Charles Cross biography Heavier Than Heaven (a solid first step), but up until now there has been nothing concrete in regards to casting. And we all know that casting is the one thing what will likely make or break this film.
This week there are reports that Courtney Love has decided on her two favourites to play the role of herself and Kurt, and the two lucky winners are… Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling! Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not either of them would even be interested. With Love acting as her own producer, it seems like this is only wishful thinking right now, although she has supposedly sent a contract out to Johansson already in the hopes that she would sign on the dotted line.
Is she setting her sights too high here? I’m not sure. I’d like to see this done as a high profile project with some serious talent behind it, but at the same time, I don’t know if many actors or actresses are keen to take on the baggage associated with these culturally significant figures (especially with Love herself watching over your shoulder). Maybe casting unknowns would be the better way to go. On the other hand, looking past the fact that Love herself has handpicked these two, I could see them being pretty decent choices. There is a resemblance between Scarlett Johansson and Courtney Love (on a good day, anyway), and Gosling certainly played a believable junkie in Half-Nelson! What do you think? Could this movie actually turn out to be good?
Comments (21)
Although i was pushing for Joe Anderson to play Kurt, I think I’d be ok with both of those choices…they’re both great actors.
Posted by Mike on January 14th, 2008If any of those people actually agree to sign on, this could actually have some potential but I have to agree that with Love closely watching the production, I’m not so sure. I can’t imagine anyone being associated with that crackpot of a woman.
Posted by Marina on January 14th, 2008ON Gosling: I’m in. Done. They have my money.
2) Instead of Johansson - Love should play herself. I know that counds crazy but I actually thought she was okay in 200 Cigarettes and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Wouldn’t she be the most logical and realistic choice? Make-up can do wonders.
Posted by Andrew James on January 14th, 2008Oh yeah, she’s decent in “Man on the Moon” as well.
Posted by Andrew James on January 14th, 2008Im saddened to see such a low life hack getting the attention he is getting. Unfortunately he is considered a genius and will probably have this movie given the full AAA treatment. There are far better figures of the grunge era that deserves the attention (looking your way Layne Staley). Maybe one day we’ll be treating to an Alice in Chains biopic. One can hope.
Posted by Captain N on January 15th, 2008It might be an interesting biopic if there is a cool angle on Cobain? I haven’t read the book is there something surprising to this guy or is it typical riding high > drug problem > psychological despair > inevitable farm buying? OR will there be scenes where he is building ships in a bottle or growing Orchids? If it’s a character study and not a rock pic then I’d be interested for sure.
Posted by Ian on January 15th, 2008Sean you may be married, but I think alot of us would appreciate pictures of Scarlett Johansson to accompany a post like this, rather than Ryan Gosling!
Posted by Henrik on January 15th, 2008Well, there’s also a little thing called Google where you can type “Scarlett Johansson” in and it will give you multiple pictures of her.
Just be happy I didn’t use one of Courtney Love all emaciated and strung out!
Posted by Sean on January 15th, 2008Captain N - you are correct sir!
Nirvana is probably the most over-rated band of all time.
Posted by Andrew James on January 15th, 2008Nirvana are overrated but Alice in Chains are the real deal??? You guys are crazy.
I agree that Kurt Cobain’s suicide put him up on a pedestal that he didn’t deserve, but Nirvana were an amazing band that completely changed the direction of music. Maybe you don’t dig their songs personally, but their cultural impact was insane.
Posted by Sean on January 15th, 2008Nirvana is the Halloween of the music industry.
Posted by Henrik on January 15th, 2008I completely agree with Sean. With Nirvana they didn’t just change music, they also changed the look and attitude of young American ure.
Posted by Mike on January 15th, 2008Courtney Love is an idiot. I move the boycott of her terriblly false Cobain biopic.
Posted by Brittany on January 15th, 2008Halloween of the music industry? fuck that!
Posted by Mitch on March 26th, 2008as far as general musicianship goes, sure kurt and nirvana deserve zero props.. but there cultural impact, and there egarity to change shit was amazing.
who wouldv’e thought that the same 4 chords and two tone settings could make such a difference?
Layne Staley better than Kurt Cobain? Now I’ve heard it all.
Layne had a decent and unique voice, that’s ALL he had, Jerry Cantrell was far more important to AIC then Layne was.
Kurt musically was poor, but he had a great voice (Live Nirvana were great) and he was a good songwriter too.
No doubt he and Nirvana are overrated a tad, but if you’re gonna say they suck or don’t deserve this or that then please don’t void your argument by mentioning someone even worse.
Posted by RJ on March 26th, 2008Also if Kurt is a low life hack doesn’t that put Layne on the same pedestal? Bit of irony there surely?
Posted by RJ on March 26th, 2008Also, in terms of deserving the attention of a movie then Kurt is probably the MOST deserving, not just him but Nirvana as a whole.
Put to one side your feelings on the music, Nirvana were bigger and made a much much more impact on society and music as a whole then all of the other bands put together.
The movie should really be about the whole of Nirvana rather than just Kurt and Courtney.
Posted by RJ on March 26th, 2008Great casting, it would be awesome.
The difficulty would be in the singing scenes…how would they do it? Don’t see Ryan Gosling having that hoarse voice…but he’s such a good actor he could fake it.
Who plays Dave Grohl? Himself?
Posted by Phil on August 14th, 2008Leave a Reply