Penn Badgley Cast as Jeff Buckley in Biopic - GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY
Penn Badgely has been cast as Jeff Buckley in a upcoming biopic based on the musical artist called Geetings From Tim Buckley. Buckley was a very talented musician and was a rising star, but he died at the age of 30 in 1997. It doesn't look like this is the same biopic that director Jake Scott (Welcome to the Riley's) was working on because this film was written by Dan Algrant, Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel and is being directed by Dan Algrant (People I Know, Naked in New York). So it looks like there are two Jeff Buckley biopics in the works.
This new biopic "follows the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he comes to understand the father who abandoned him. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time."
The other biopic was written by Ryan Jaffe (The Rocker), and Buckley's mother Mary Guibert will be an executive producer on it. And it got the music rights to Buckley's songs and the book by David Browne Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley, will be used as a resource. I will put my money behind the one that Buckley's mother is a part of.
As we previously reported: Buckley was the son of folk musician Tim Buckley. He spent a decade as a guitarist-for-hire in Los Angeles, but eventually gained a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and his father's manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace. He was a big influence on musicians such as Kurt Cobain and Coldplay.
According to reports, while he was waiting for the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during a spontaneous evening swim, fully clothed, in Tennessee's Wolf River, he was caught in the wake of a passing boat and drowned.
I'm a big fan of Buckley's music and I'm looking forward to seeing these movies get made. It will be interesting to see which one turns out better.
Here's the full press release:
New York, NY (June 20, 2011) – Smuggler Films announced today Penn Badgley will star in the much anticipated film Greetings from Tim Buckley. He will play Tim Buckley’s son Jeff in the first film to be made about the musicians. There has been much speculation regarding the casting of Jeff Buckley as many of Hollywood’s hottest stars were interested in playing one of the most remarkable music artists of his generation. Greetings from Tim Buckley was written by Dan Algrant, Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel and will be directed by Dan Algrant (People I Know, Naked in New York).
Greetings from Tim Buckley follows the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he comes to understand the father who abandoned him. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time.
Penn Badgley said, "To play a man who was singularly gifted as an artist, greatly misunderstood & mythologized as a human being... It's something very special and sacred. I'm going to give all I can to this project.”
Patrick Milling Smith of Smuggler Films. “In its purest form this is a father and son story, a rite of passage that is made possible by a romantic journey Jeff finds himself on. We see Jeff accepting who he is to become and laying to rest the ghost of his father while ultimately finding his voice. We had been searching well over a year for an actor that can come close to Jeff’s spirit while also having the serious musical chops required to authentically tell this story. Penn’s audition blew us away and we knew we found our star.”
Greetings from Tim Buckley is in preproduction and will start shooting this August in New York City. Production entities behind the movie are SMUGGLER Films, A-Z productions and Second Chance productions. The film is being produced by Patrick Milling Smith, John N. Hart (Revolutionary Road, You Can Count On Me), Fred Zollo (Quiz Show, Mississippi Burning). Executive Producers are Brian Carmody, Jill Footlick (Boys Don’t Cry, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) and Ben Limberg. Director of Photography is Andrij Parekh (Blue Valentine, Half Nelson). Casting Director Avy Kaufman.