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Everything You Wanted To Know About The Three Jeff Buckley Movies Being Made
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 16, 2011
Modified Aug 16, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 16, 2011
Modified Aug 16, 2011
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Penn Badgley, Jeff Buckley, Reeve Carney.
For whatever reason, everyone decided to make Jeff Buckley movies at the same time—and it's still causing confusion! But today it was announced that one more production has cast their leading man: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark star Reeve Carney. He'll begin filming in November... but at least one other production is starting sooner.
From what we can tell, there are three Jeff Buckley movies in the works right now. There's Greetings From Tim Buckley, which will star Penn Badgley as a pre-fame Buckley reconnecting with his father, Tim. This starts filming in Brooklyn on Monday.
Then there is Jake (son of Ridley) Scott's biopic. This is the one that just booked Carney to star in the role of Buckley. They also have the full support of the Buckley estate, exclusive rights to his songs, the go ahead from Leonard Cohen's camp to use Hallelujah (which Buckley famously covered), and help from Mary Guibert, Jeff's mother. This is the one being co-produced by Orian Williams, who previously said he wanted more of an unknown in the role; Scott called Carney, “the perfect combination of musical prodigy, impish charm, innate intelligence and sensitivity to play Jeff.”
Then there's another biopic, called A Pure Drop, which will be directed by Brendan Fletcher, and written by Train Houston. The latter told us one of his earlier Buckley biopic efforts was the impetus for Buckley's mother to spearhead her own film. Houston also told us that her project "aims to highlight the fun-loving, loopy, goofy aspects of Jeff Buckley. It's clearly the vision that Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, wants to put out. (I've read the script, and it's totally true.) Pitching this fluffy take is how the writer, Ryan Jaffe, became the writer. In contrast, A Pure Drop is a deep, complex, warts and all look at the life of a gifted and troubled musician who was haunted by a father whom he hardly knew... a father he was frequently compared to."
So there you have it! A Buckley for all your moods. And thank you everyone, so far, for not casting Jared Leto. It's just really important that Jared Leto never be cast as a legendary music figure, okay?
Tagged
biopic
casting
film
jeff buckley
movie
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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