Why is “Last Days” “inspired by” rather than “based on” the death of Kurt Cobain?
Van Sant: There was this idea to do a biopic, like “The Doors,” that would tell Kurt’s story and maybe the Kurt and Courtney relationship and the band, and they would be arguing over their recording of “Nevermind” or arguing with (album producer) Butch Vig. That was my instant conception, which was probably about a year after he died. And then I changed it and decided that it would be maybe something I could do on a low budget at my house, which was kind of like Cobain’s house. I thought I could shoot it in 16 mm and I would cast someone that wasn’t like him. Then I decided that it would be just these last couple days that were missing, where nobody knew what had happened to him, that it wouldn’t literally be about him, it would be a poetic piece. And then, as time went on, it changed again. So where did your story of his last days come from? Just in my imagination. That’s another reason why it wasn’t really a straight biopic. It’s hard to think of the fictional Blake as anyone else bu
