Van Sant says Courtney Love should not see his film

CANNES - Gus Van Sant thinks Courtney Love should probably not see his film "Last Days", a fictional reflection on Kurt Cobain's life, even though it has been 11 years since her grunge rocker husband killed himself.

Van Sant says "Last Days", in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, may hit too close to home for Love, even though it is only one interpretation of what might have happened before the rock icon shot himself in 1994.

"I'd like her to see the film, but I also know it's something that might just be too painful, too disturbing," Van Sant, who won the festival's top "Palme d'Or" in 2003 for "Elephant", said after his new film's world premiere in Cannes.

Van Sant has also won a directing Academy Award for "Good Will Hunting" and a Golden Globe for "To Die For", a black comedy starring Nicole Kidman that appeared in Cannes in 1995.

Van Sant said Love had expressed interest in "Last Days".

"I'm not positive how she'd react," he said. "I think it might be too close. She's lived the story so it might be too difficult. I don't think it would be entertainment for her or an interesting subject. But she has asked about the film. She's curious about it."

Van Sant portrays the Cobain-like character called Blake as a confused, lonely, catatonic rock star who spends most of his time mumbling to himself, eating macaroni and cheese, dressing up as a woman, watching television or wandering aimlessly through his unheated mansion.

Those are the sorts of things Cobain did, said Van Sant, who knew the rock star.

VAN SANT DOESN'T LIKE MEDIA

Van Sant said he long ago abandoned the notion of making a film based on Cobain's life because he did not want to get bogged down in details - partly because no one knew what happened before Cobain wrote his suicide note, injected heroin and shot himself.

Van Sant said he felt more comfortable making up the story about Cobain, whose band "Nirvana" was at the core of the Seattle music scene in the early 1990s. Love is a colourful singer and actress known for wild antics on and off the stage.

"Those particular days are just kind of lost," he said. At a news conference on Friday, Van Sant admitted that fear of a lawsuit from Love also was part of the decision to resort to fiction and say the story was merely "inspired by" Cobain.

"Yes, we were afraid she was going to sue us," said Van Sant, whose "Elephant" was loosely based on the Columbine school massacre in Colorado in 1999.

Van Sant, 52, said he prefers making films about dark topics, especially cherished in Europe, for a simple reason: "The world is a very dark and sinister place."

Savouring his third appearance in Cannes, Van Sant said he loves the festival but dislikes the media part of it.

"It's always hard with doing press," he said. "The rest of it is not so hard. It's a nice place. Showing the film isn't hard either. You just go and sit down.

"I like coming here except I don't like to do the press," he said, adding that he had nothing against journalists.

"I just don't have anything to say about the film. So it's like I can't really define it. The reason that I make the film is because I can't talk about it. Some people make films so they can talk about them. I'm the opposite, it's all on the screen."

- REUTERS