Chris Cornell’s Estate Doesn’t Approve of Upcoming Biopic About the Late Rocker
A dramatized Chris Cornell movie now in production — one that will reportedly focus on the late musician's final moments — is unauthorized by the Soundgarden and Audioslave singer's estate, a rep has confirmed.
The biopic, Black Days, is "based on true events about the last days in the life of grunge music icon Chris Cornell," according to the movie casting website Backstage. But the joint production purportedly from Road Rage Films and Amerifilms is "not sanctioned or approved by the estate" of the musician.
That's what the representative for Cornell's estate told Pitchfork on Monday (Aug. 24), adding that "no one contacted the estate for any information." Still, the Backstage site's call for actors notes that shooting for Black Days begins in Los Angeles on Sept. 10.
The biopic's production companies reportedly have ties to actor and musician Johnny Holiday, as Pitchfork uncovered. Holiday, who makes music under the moniker Kid Memphis, portrayed musician Carl Perkins in Walk the Line, the 2005 movie about the life of country singer Johnny Cash.
Little else is currently known about Black Days other than its casting calls for day players to portray a young Cornell, some fellow musicians, a road manager, a hotel maid, a doctor, and various roadies and audience members.
But it's not the first time since Cornell's death that a film project has been put into motion. In 2019, a Brad Pitt-produced documentary about the musician was reported to have the estate's cooperation.
Cornell died in May 2017, aged 52, after the singer's bodyguard discovered him lifeless in a hotel room. Cornell is survived by his wife and daughters.
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