Why do they sing Nirvana in Pan?

Question

In the recent adaption of Peter Pan, Pan, the workers and captain sing Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana together.

Why did they choose this specific song to sing together?

Answer 1

From The Huffington Post who interviewed Joe Wright, the director:

One of the most memorable scenes in 'Pan', Joe Wright’s lavish Peter Pan prequel is when young Londoner Peter is first transported to Neverland, and encounters Blackbeard, an out-of-control Hugh Jackman, tyrannising thousands of pirates to mine for fairy dust. All this is accompanied by the anthemic chants of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and it’s a moment that wasn’t even in the script.

“The script didn’t have anything like that,” remembers Joe now. “He was just supposed to walk on and make a speech.

“But during rehearsals, we had a ridiculous pirate boot camp for a week, so Hugh could get to know the other pirates. We were playing music, one day that song came on, everyone started singing, pogoing, and here we are... it was one of those films, where we were liberated to come up with the craziest, silliest ideas and make them real.”