Photo Credit: Sally / CC by 2.0
Kurt Cobain’s estate slams the Royal Opera’s adaptation of Gus Van Sant’s “Last Days” as an “unauthorized attempt” to continue exploiting the late singer’s final hours — “Enough is enough.”
Kurt Cobain’s estate has released a statement criticizing an adaptation of Gus Van Sant’s film, Last Days, by London’s Royal Opera House. The estate called the production an “unauthorized attempt” to continue exploiting the fictionalized account of the late singer’s final days.
The opera, centered around a musician named Blake, who serves as a stand-in for Cobain, was composed by Oliver Leith. Leith is the in-residence composer for the Royal Opera House and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The opera’s libretto was written by Matt Copson, who co-directed alongside Anna Morrisey. It is based on the 2005 Gus Van Sant film of the same name, loosely based on Kurt Cobain’s final hours in Seattle.
“Last Days has been created and written without the permission or input of the Cobain estate,” the statement read. “Sadly, this show, just like the movie, is an unauthorized attempt to benefit from the brief meeting set up with Kurt and Gus Van Sant. This one meeting has been exploited for profit for thirty years now, and enough is enough.”
The Royal Opera House responded that its 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 was produced with the permissions of Gus Van Sant and HBO.”
“Blake, a musician, has recently escaped rehab to return home,” reads the opera production’s official logline. “But he is haunted by objects, visitors, and memories distracting him from his true purpose — self-destruction.”
The Royal Opera House production recently concluded its premier run from October 7 through October 11 at the Linbury Theatre.