Today marked the press conference for Kurt Cobain: About a Son, the Extra section film by AJ Schnack and a touching biography of the leader of rock group Nirvana, based on over 25 hours of previously unheard material from interviews Cobain granted journalist Michael Azerrad for his book “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana”.

“When I listened to the interview tapes, I realised that they were very rare. What is most striking is his voice, because everyone knows him through his songs but few have heard him in conversation”, said Schnack. “I chose an approach different from that of the usual documentaries celebrating music stars. I wanted to make the film very intimate. It almost seems like eavesdropping on his private secrets. And even though the tapes are over 12 years old, they are still very current”.

“Cobain was worried about being seen as a caricature, a stereotype, the image of him that we unfortunately got. But when I listened to the interviews, I discovered a multi-faceted man: intelligent, angry, witty, paranoid. I was interested in focusing on his complexities, his doubts, his dark sides. The whole truth is always the best truth”.

On the images he selected, Schnack explained that, “they were chosen because they reflect Kurt’s experiences, his adolescence. For example, the time he spent in his father’s sawmill or in his three cities, Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle”. The same holds true for the music: “I wanted the places onscreen to be the ones he saw, and the music, that which he listened to, important groups in making him the musician he became, such as Cheap Trick, David Bowie, Mudhoney, Melvins, Rem, Bad Brains and the Butthole Surfers”.

The director further said that, in making the film, he always “kept Courtney Love informed…on our intentions and on the shape we wanted to give the film. In the end, they were chats and interview process is a true art form”.