Gus Van Sant

Kurt Cobain’s estate has slammed an adaptation of Gus Van Sant’s dramatized film Last Days by London’s Royal Opera House, saying the production is an “unauthorized attempt” to continue exploiting the fictionalized story of the late singer’s final days. “Last Days has been created and written without permission,” the estate said in a statement. “This show, just like the movie, is an unauthorized attempt to benefit from the brief meeting set up with Kurt and Gus Van Zant. This one meeting has been exploited for profit for thirty years now and enough is enough.” A spokesperson for the Royal Opera House issued the following response: “The Royal Opera’s production of Last Days is adapted from Gus Van Sant’s cult film of the same name, released in 2005. It is a fictionalized account, and wa...

Kurt Cobain died 28 years ago yesterday, but his life — and death — continue to inspire countless works of art. The latest addition to the Cobain canon is an opera adapted from Gus Van Sant’s dramatized film about his final days. London’s Royal Opera House is adapting Van Sant’s 2005 film, Last Days, into an opera for its 2022-2023 season (via The Guardian). The opera was composed by Oliver Leith, the ROH’s composer-in-residence, with the libretto by Matt Copson. Anna Morrissey and Copson are set to direct the opera, due to be staged in October. The opera, also titled Last Days, “plunges into the torment that created a modern myth,” the Royal Opera House said. The story follows the musician Blake, Cobain’s stand-in, as he returns home from a stint in rehab. “But he is haunted by objec...