I have a vague notion of who Jeff Buckley was (that headline was a drowning joke, get it?), but I’m not super familiar with his catalog. People being able to lord that over me is probably what makes him so cool. And nothing says cool like a Hollywood biopic, right? Well now TWO are in the works. One is called Greetings from Tim Buckley, and it’s set to star Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley, whose friends must’ve called him “Penn Vadgely” growing up or else missed a golden opportunity.
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.
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. [Comingsoon]
Huh, well I know none of those people. At first when it said “People I Know” I didn’t realize it referred to a movie and thought the writers were literally acquaintances of the guy writing the press release. I’m still not convinced. So what about the other Buckley project?
EXCLUSIVE: Welcome To The Rileys [that one where Bella Swan hates butt sex] helmer Jake Scott has been set to direct an untitled film about Jeff Buckley, the rising star musician who died tragically at age 30 in 1997. Scott will direct a script by Ryan Jaffe (The Rocker). Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert will be exec producer.
Buckley, son of the famed but troubled folk musician Tim Buckley, became an influence on musicians from Kurt Cobain to Coldplay. He shunned the spotlight, though, preferring to play small clubs and who for a long time played as a session guitarist to make a living. He recorded one hit album, Grace, and was on his way to doing another when he jumped into Tennessee’s Wolf River, fully clothed, for a spontaneous swim. He got caught in the wake of a passing boat and drowned.
Music rights to Buckley’s songs are part of the rights package and the producers have also optioned the David Browne book Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley, as a resource. Browne will be a consultant. [Deadline]
Wait, did you say the writer of The Rocker? Okay, maybe it’s unfair to blame him for that, he only had story credit, someone else wrote the screenplay. Sidenote: Apparently, in Germany, The Rocker was called “The Rocker – Voll Der (S) Hit.” Which translates to “The Rocker: Full of (S)Hit.” And people say Germans aren’t funny. Meanwhile, in Italy it was called “Naked Drummer” and in Spain, “The Rocker of Balls,” which is kind of awesome. Anyway, I digress. The second project sounds like the one more likely to actually happen, since without music rights, I have to assume the first would be a biopic of the Jackie Jormp-jomp variety. Not that I would know the difference. I could be watching a retrospective of fictional Jeff Buckley songs going, “Ha, sweet, bro, I owned this album on vinyl.” (*pops collar on leather jacket, lights clove*) “I always tell people, Jeff Buckley is like the Godfather of Neutral Milk Hotel.”