Director Brett Morgen on His Favorite Nirvana Song & How Ken Burns Helped Prep Him

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Handpicked by Kurt Cobain's ex Courtney Love, director Brett Morgen -- famous
for his critically acclaimed documentary, The
Kid Stays in the Picture
, and his work on ESPN’s 30 for 30 -- had the daunting task of telling the late Nirvana singer's story in
the new film, Kurt Cobain: Montage of
Heck
.

After eight years, Morgen finally completed the project, which
first premiered at Sundance and later screened at the Tribeca Film Festival
where he and Love sat down for an intimate discussion about Cobain. Among the questions asked: Morgen’s favorite Nirvana song.

“I would say at the moment it is ‘Territorial Pissings,’ ”
the director told ETonline at the Tribeca screening.

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The song is a punk record from Nevermind, Nirvana’s breakthrough 1991 album. The paranoid track, written by
Cobain and singer-songwriter Chet Powers, was recorded in one take.

“It just gets me in the mood,” he added, though not
elaborating further.

Having listened to countless mixtapes, unreleased songs and
watched rare performances, Morgen’s selection is no doubt a surprising one though the song is considered by Rolling
Stone
to be among the best of the band’s entire catalog.

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As for finding the strength to take on a documentary like
this, the director cites a speech filmmaker Ken Burns gave when he visited Hampshire College where Morgen was a student.

“[Ken] said something that always stuck with me, which was
that for eons and eons history was something in the oral tradition, there were
stories that got passed down from generation to generation and it's only really
been in modern times where it's become more fact based,” Morgen told ETonline. “I
always liked that.”

For more on the discussion held between Love and Morgen,
check out ETonline's recap of the event.

Kurt Cobain: Montage
of Heck
will premiere on HBO on Monday, May 4.