Zac Efron to Star as Kurt Cobain

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By Jim Shearer on 04/01/2009

Filed under: NEWS

Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Courtney Love can agree on few things, but recently they've been civil towards each other and even gave their blessing on a major motion picture about Nirvana, Come As You Are, scheduled to shoot later this year.

The film will be directed by Anton Corbijn (who helmed Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" music video) and the cast includes Scarlett Johansson as Courtney Love, Jason Schwartzman as Dave Grohl (makes sense cause he can act and play drums), Christopher Mintz as Krist Novoselic, and maybe the biggest surprise for Nirvana fans, Zac Efron--star of High School Musicals 1, 2, and 3--as the late great frontman of the band, Kurt Cobain.

Efron apparently is so eager to shed his glam-and-glitz, teen star persona, he recently turned down an opportunity to star in the remake of Footloose to focus solely on Come As You Are. According to producers, Efron will also sing and play guitar during live performance scenes (much like Joaquin Phoenix did in Walk the Line). Ephron's latest blog posting reads: "I'm so excited to play such a legendary performer. I've been a fan of Nirvana for as long as I can remember."

(above: Smells like teen spirit, for real!)

When asked about the Disney teen star portraying his former bandmate, Dave Grohl told Metal Edge Magazine, "It's not like he's going to be breaking out in choreographed dance routines on set. We wanted someone who could actually sing, and someone who would polarize our audience. Kurt would have loved the idea!" Apparently Jared Leto was originally cast as Cobain, but had a falling out with the Nirvana camp during the initial script readings.

"I know Zac playing Kurt is going to shake some feathers," said Novoselic, "but, c'mon, he kind of looks like Kurt and how bad can a guy be if he's willing to learn how to play guitar left-handed? I'm surprised more people haven't said anything about McLovin' playing me."

Happy April 1st!

Tags: Christopher Mintz, Come As You Are, Courtney Love, Dave Grohl, High School Musical, Jared Leto, Jason Schwartzman, Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana Movie, Scarlett Johansson, Zac Efron

Ethan Stanislawski

This April Fool's Day joke cost me an hour of my time blogging that I could have used looking for jobs. I hope you're happy.

Joe G

April Fools?

petebune

You....YOU! Grrrrrr. Oh man, I went through the five stages of grief man! Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance before I realized that you're a jerk! ;P

petebune

You're movie casting skills are getting better and better. It's like you understand Hollywood.

abby

Seriously? I honestly tried to rationalize all of this before I realized that it was published YESTERDAY. Cruel, cruel...but hilarious now.

Ryan B

fuck that shit fuck zac efron i hate that faggot he needs to stick to his little bullshit disney movies and get someone good to play the part kurt cobain is a legend and needs someone that we all can respect to play the part

WELL, I JUST HOPE THOSE FAMOUS KURT COBAIN EYW SHADOWS SHOW UP ON HIM TOO...AND WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO-- PUT MAKEUP PUTTY ON HIS CHIN???

jack

fuck that little prettyboy zack efron if i ever see him in the street i'll be beat the shit out of him

ummmmm you people need to relax. look at the date of this post.

Starchild Nirvana

OMG I HATE YOU!!!!! That scared me so freaking much- the thought of having a bubbly little teen pop sensation freak playing the greatest and most real musician ever to live, the thought of him disgracing his honor, and the thought of Nirvana being thought of by non-fans as a freaking teen choice movie with a gay little retard as Kurt.... grrrrr... I almost went to find the guy and killlllll him.

Covering the crossroads of music and film.