In Memory of Kurt Cobain

He dispels some myths...

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl says that despite his problems with drugs and depression, Kurt Cobain was one of the funniest people he has ever met.

Grohl was speaking about the recording of Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged session, available on DVD on Monday, and said that Cobain was continuously cracking jokes off camera.

The former Nirvana drummer said: “I remember it seemed like he was having a good time because a lot of talk between songs was hilariously funny

“I don’t know how many people realise it but Kurt was one of the funniest people I have ever met.”

Bassist Krist Novoselic said of the magical night in November 1993: “The show has an aura of its own. Kurt’s death was a huge media event and that unplugged performance turned into this kind of requiem.”

He continued to The Sun: “Kurt was in compelling form. He had that energy for expression. There was something about him. You can hear it and you can see it (on the DVD).”

Forthcoming film will be the first to feature band's songs

The forthcoming Kurt Cobain biopic from Universal Pictures is set to be the first Nirvana film to feature the band's music, NME.COM can reveal.

It had been reported that Universal had recently bought the rights to Charles R Cross' Cobain biography, 'Heavier Than Heaven'.

Cross has since told NME.COM that the package Universal have bought would be a combination of both the book rights and the rights to Nirvana's music, as put together by Courtney Love, who owns the rights to Nirvana's music.

"Courtney Love has packaged my book rights with Nirvana's music," he explained, in reference to the package Universal now have rights to. "It's important, as for it to be a definitive Kurt biopic you need the music."

To read the full low-down on the new Cobain biopic, of which Courtney Love is set to be executive producer, see the new issue of NME, on UK newsstands from tomorrow (November 7).

Rocker DAVE GROHL regularly dreams about his late NIRVANA bandmate KURT COBAIN. Grohl, who drummed in Nirvana but now fronts Foo Fighters, has regular nighttime visions of Cobain hiding from him. He says, "I still dream about Kurt. Every time I see him in a dream, I'll be amazed and I get this feeling that everyone else thinks he's dead. "It always feels totally real, probably because I'm a very vivid dreamer. But, in my dreams, Kurt's usually been hiding - we'll get together and I'll end up asking him, 'God, where have you been?'" Cobain killed himself in 1994.

THE acclaimed star of The Last King Of Scotland is being hotly tipped to play grunge icon Kurt Cobain in a movie about the Nirvana singer's life and death.

A number of Hollywood-based internet sites have claimed that 28-year-old Glaswegian James McAvoy will be offered the lead role in the rock 'n' roll biopic.

A vast array of websites insist the Scottish actor - already a big star in the US after appearing in hit blockbusters such as Atonement and The Chronicles Of Narnia - will take on the role of the revered Nirvana frontman, who shot himself in 1994.

One website claimed that McAvoy's growing reputation in Tinsel Town as a heavyweight character actor meant he was the clear favourite for the role.

One blogger said: "James is hot property in Hollywood right now, and it's felt he would be perfect for the role of Kurt, who was a complex and unpredictable character."

Cobain's widow Courtney Love is overseeing the as yet un-named movie as executive producer. Unpublished diary entries written by the late star will be used to detail his life and descent into drug addiction and depression.

The screenplay for the film, due to hit cinema screens in 2009, is being penned by Troy writer David Benioff.

Love has yet to confirm any of the cast members, but promised the film would be "A-list and high-end".

Cobain, who was born in the US city of Aberdeen, Washington state, enjoyed massive success fronting Nirvana with bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl in the early 1990s, with hits such as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'Come As You Are'.

Cobain struggled to cope with his heroin addiction and intense media interest in the tempestuous relationship between him and his equally volatile spouse, Love, herself the frontwoman of rock band Hole.

Cobain was just 27 when he shot himself, leaving behind Love and their daughter Frances Bean Cobain, now 16.

In 2005 Michael Pitt played Cobain in the unofficial big-screen biopic Last Days, which was directed by Gus Van Sant.

McAvoy was born in 1979 in the Castlemilk district of Glasgow and trained at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.