Of the seven primetime Emmy nominations bestowed upon Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck–including the first four of his career, for Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, as well as Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special–director/writer/producer/editor Brett Morgen finds one to be the most meaningful. It’s the Best Documentary nom–not for himself but for executive producer Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.
“It took a tremendous amount of courage for her to initiate this film,” related Morgen. “A lot of times with authorized documentaries, they are watered down because the estate needs to ‘protect the brand.’ But rather than a watered down version, she had one dictate–that the best way to pay tribute to Kurt was to create a film that is honest above and beyond everything else. That’s why I’m so glad and it’s so meaningful to me that her efforts have been acknowledged.”
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck provides insights into the life and creative spirit of Kurt Cobain, the late, lauded lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of Nirvana who remains an icon some 20 years after his death. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, later made its TV debut on HBO, had a spring theatrical release and is now in the running for seven Emmys.
Produced with the cooperation of Cobain’s family, the documentary had access to not just his relatives and those who were extremely close to him, but also the art Kurt Cobain created over the years dating back to when he was a youngster. Morgen observed that Cobain had an innate need and desire to create and he used any means available–a microphone, a paintbrush, clay, photography, super 8 film. “Kurt created from the moment he could hold a paintbrush in his hand,” said Morgen. “I had never before encountered someone who had documented his or her life in such a manner. He constructed an audio/visual autobiography of his life which lent itself to a cinematic adaptation.”
This enabled Morgen and his colleagues to create a psychological portrait of Cobain’s journey through life–and to depict what that journey looked and sounded like.
While having access to Cobain’s art represented an amazing opportunity, it also posed a prime creative challenge to Morgen as a filmmaker. “Our documentary was an interior journey through Kurt’s life as revealed and depicted through his art,” said Morgen. “Most documentaries pursue a subject from the outside trying to look inside. Instead we were going from the inside, looking out. Our challenge was to reveal his interior journey through life. To arrive at that depiction we had to go through an overwhelming amount of material–and figure out what to present and how to present it. We constructed 55 minutes of the film through animation and motion graphics to bring Kurt’s art to life. We began working on sound design essentially from day one. We saw sound design as a structural element and narrative tool to help personify Kurt’s pain and view of the world. The beauty of it was that these sound design elements essentially came from him. In the 107 cassettes we had unearthed and which had never been heard before, there was much sound design and audio material which became an important narrative tool for the documentary.”
Cobain’s art, continued Morgen, is what drove “the intimacy of the film. His art fascinated me. To have access to it as a filmmaker for the first time was like uncovering treasure. Kurt happened to be famous. But I would have been as equally enamored and drawn to the film if my subject were anonymous–that’s how wonderful the art is, how creative he was. Kurt never had idle hands which is counter to the slacker branding that a lot of my generation has been labeled with.”
In addition to being in the running for directing, writing, picture editing, and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Cinematography (James Whitaker), Sound Editing (supervising sound editor Cameron Frankley, sound effects editor Dan Kenyon, music editor Jon Michaels), and Sound Mixing (re-recording mixer Steve Pederson) for Nonfiction Programming.
While Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck earned Morgen his first career primetime Emmy nominations, he is no stranger to industry accolades. He directed the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary June 17th, 1994 (the day of the LAPD freeway chase of O.J. Simpson) which earned a 2011 Sports Emmy nomination. Morgen was also an Best Feature Documentary Oscar nominee in 1999 for On The Ropes which he directed with Nanette Burstein. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is the fourth film Morgen has had showcased at the Sundance Film Festival. The first was On The Ropes, followed by the 2002 closing night film The Kid Stays in the Picture (with Morgen and Burstein again as co-directors), and the 2007 opening night film Chicago 10, a Morgen-helmed film which looked back at the anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the Democratic Party’s 1968 National Convention.
Morgen is also active as a director of commercials and branded content via production company Anonymous Content. He’s been directing spots since 2000 and estimated that he’s turned out some 250 campaigns over the years. His recent work includes an Exxon Mobil campaign for BBDO which includes a centerpiece commercial showing the simple task of boiling an egg being reverse-engineered to create an epic journey tracing the massive scale effort needed to bring energy into our homes.
Gotham
Earlier this month Doug Kraner earned his second career Emmy nomination, this one for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program on the strength of the pilot for Gotham (Fox). Kraner’s first nom came all the way back in 1983 as a set decorator on Little Gloria…Happy At Last for which he was part of an ensemble nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or Special.
With 22 years between his two nominations, Kraner said that the TV Academy recognition of his work as a production designer on Gotham is especially gratifying. “It means a great deal to me. It tells you that maybe you’re doing something right, and maybe you’re doing something that is exciting to people. The show has gotten a lot of fantastic coverage for its look, the writing, acting, everything. People seem to have responded to the look. It’s part of what we considered one of our major challenges when [executive producer/director] Danny Cannon and I first started talking about the look of this show. There were already general public expectations of what the world of Batman and Gotham looks like. We were very cognizant of that. We wanted to acknowledge the existing kinds of worlds that had been created for Gotham City over the years by talented people in TV, film and comic books. We wanted our viewers to somehow feel comfortable with the environment. But we also wanted to create something fresh and doable on a week-to-week basis.
Kraner gave much credit to his colleagues and fellow nominees on Gotham, art director Laura Ballinger Gardner and set decorator Regina Graves. “As an art director, Laura brings to the table a tremendous amount of organizational skills, great familiarity with what it takes to construct massive sets and helping to make it all happen on schedule and on budget. She is something else that a production designer loves to have which is a wonderful sounding board for what I’m drawing and putting on paper. She is herself a production designer from time to time, and brings a very mature eye to the work. If an idea isn’t working, she lets you know right away. She makes my life easier and my work better every day.
“The same is true of Regina who is a distinguished set decorator–and is also nominated this year for The Knick [Cinemax; Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period Program–One Hour or More]. That shows you the tremendous depth and breadth of her abilities–to do a show like ours as well as a period medical show. She is really talented and can do anything. She brings to every set something that is totally unique and totally fresh in terms of set decoration. Like Laura, when you bring ideas to Regina, she makes them better.”
Gotham marked the first time Kraner worked with Graves. Kraner and Gardner earlier collaborated on The Tomorrow People (The CW) in New York.
Kraner noted it’s no coincidence that this year’s Emmy nominations for Gotham spanned the visual categories–Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Costumes and Outstanding Production Design. “That’s because these three teams were one great overall collaborative team,” observed Kraner. “Bruno Heller [series creator/executive producer/writer] and Danny Cannon [executive producer] came in with such a strong vision to impart to all of us so that right off the bat the three teams were able to dive right in, and stay on the same page, with each team building on what the other teams were doing. This made for a seamless look between my team, the costumes and visual effects teams. The show has a realism about it but also depicts a fantasy world, a world where the sun never shines, where darkness and gloom permeate so much of the atmosphere. Visual effects [under VFX supervisor Thomas Joseph Maloney] took away the bright skies working off the sketches I did initially. Every frame they worked on was in line with the overall vision. Everything in costumes [under Emmy-nominated costume designer Lisa Padovani] was in sync with what my team was doing. Everything came together to play as one piece. I think firmly that is why we got three visual category nominations. The show stared with writing, then direction, and then the design came in to create all of one piece.”
Gotham earned a total of four Emmy nominations this year, the fourth coming for Outstanding Sound Editing (supervising sound editor George Haddad, sound editors Dale Chaloukian, Chad J. Hughes, MPSE, and Christopher Barrick, music editor Ashley Revell and Foley artist Joseph Sabella).
This is the 10th installment of a 14-part series that explores the field of Emmy contenders, and then nominees spanning such disciplines as directing, cinematography, producing, editing, animation and visual effects. The series will then be followed up by coverage of the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony on September 12 and the primetime Emmy Awards live telecast on September 20.
