A couple of years ago he was just a struggling indie musician, and then he scored the title role in the massive Broadway musical, Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark. Now it appears he has play to leave the show and make a movie into film, as Deadline reports that he has been cast as Jeff Buckley in the forthcoming untitled biopic of the singer.
To be directed by Jake Scott (Welcome to the Rileys), the filmmakers obviously have the trust of Buckley’s estate, as they’ve managed to secure the exclusive rights to Jeff’s music and personal archives. The film will chronicle the life of Buckley, one of the most critically acclaimed musical artists of his time, who died tragically at age 30 in a drowning accident in Memphis, Tennessee’s Wolf River. Production will commence in New York and Memphis in November.
Buckley’s only studio release during his lifetime was the widely acclaimed album Grace, which includes his legendary interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah,’ and is acknowledged by critics as a modern classic. His momentous posthumous album, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal for the song ‘Everybody Here Wants You.’
Interestingly, another movie is in the works about Jeff, called Greetings From Tim Buckley, which is due to star Penn Badgeley and will look at Jeff’s relationship with his estranged father, leading to a cathartic performance of his dad’s most famous songs at St. Ann’s Church in 1991. It’ll be interesting to see if Jake Scott’s more official film moving forward knocks the other one off course.