By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 27, 1998
“Kurt and Courtney,” the movie banned from this year’s Sundance Film Festival that became the event’s most talked-about title, is heading to Chicago next month.
The documentary is about the late rocker Kurt Cobain, who led the influential alternative rock group Nirvana. Despite opposition from Cobain’s widow, singer-actress Courtney Love, it has been running in San Francisco since Feb. 27.
Within the next few weeks, “Kurt” will open in Chicago, Boston, New York and Seattle.
Though a Chicago venue has not been confirmed, the film’s distributor, Roxie Releasing, said the likely site is Sony Theatres’ Pipers Alley. An April 3 or April 10 opening is planned to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Cobain’s death. His body was discovered April 8, 1994.
Cobain’s death was ruled a suicide, but some people – including Cobain’s father-in-law – speculate in the film that Love was somehow involved in the singer’s demise. Filmmaker Nick Broomfield has said that’s one reason why Love is trying to quash the film.
“We are told that Mr. Broomfield’s movie conveys the message . . . that Ms. Love killed her husband Kurt Cobain or somehow participated in his murder,” Love’s attorney wrote in a letter to Bill Banning, Roxie’s CEO. “Such accusations are false and defamatory, nothing more. They are extremely damaging to Ms. Love, and very hurtful.”
Love’s camp also accused Broomfield of using music by Nirvana and Love’s group, Hole, without her permission.
“That’s not an issue anymore because we removed those songs,” said Banning. “(Nirvana’s) `Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and (Hole’s) `Doll Parts’ have been replaced by music by Earth, which is a band that Kurt’s friend Dylan Carlson is in. He had no problems with the film.”
Love’s publicist did not return calls for comment.
When “Kurt and Courtney” was pulled from Sundance, Slamdunk – an alternative film fest held simultaneously in Park City, Utah – offered to show the film. Invitations to the screening were the hottest tickets in town and were sent to only 150 celebrities, filmmakers, journalists and distributors.
“Because the songs hadn’t been replaced at that point, they turned the volume down during those parts,” Banning said. “Just in case.”
Despite all her public barking, Love – who starred in Milos Forman’s movie “The People vs. Larry Flynt” – hasn’t filed a lawsuit.
“There’s no question the controversy has given the film a higher profile,” said Rick Norris, Roxie’s distribution president. “Courtney and her lawyer and various other people associated with her have done a pretty good job of promoting the film for us. But there probably are more relaxed forms of publicity that we would’ve liked to have
taken advantage of.”
