How do you make a movie about a tragic rock star who doesn’t care about being a rock star and doesn’t even have a drug problem? That’s just one of the dilemmas facing everyone trying to make aJeff Buckleybiopic over the past 28 years. We reported on the biographyEverybody Here Wants Youover a decade ago. Regardless of that buzz, it amounted to nothing.That project has stalled out in a state of limbo, presumably canceled.At least we now have a documentary in theaters about the late singer,It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, directed by Oscar nomineeAmy Berg. And that’s as much as we’ll probably ever get if Buckley’s own family has any say in the matter.
Though stardom was inevitable, the singer-songwriter resisted the rock-star image to his grave.Dying as he rose to prominence, Buckley’s career was brief but influential, winning over a growing underground contingent of fans who kept the fire burning for an artist who became famous despite his own best efforts, wracked by insecurity and distrust in the entertainment industry. Even after his death, industry figures have continued trying to capitalize on his enigmatic persona and cult fanbase. Everyone wanted Jeff Buckley to be the next superstar, except him.
Jeff Buckley, the Anti-Rockstar Hollywood Couldn’t Resist
While the name doesn’t immediately stand out, you know his version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which eventually surpassed Cohen’s in popularity. Buckley wrote many songs himself, but at the time of his drowning in 1997, aged 30, he still hadn’t broken the top 140 best-selling albums, according toBillboard. The fact that he was discovered by the mainstream after dying added to his aura, recording only one official studio album. Flying under the radar, the album was highly praised by Bob Dylan, who called Buckley “one of the greatest songwriters of the decade,” according to biographerJason Thomas Gordon.
Buckley reacted cautiously to the fame, and with even less enthusiasm to his own record label, which nagged him to churn out a second studio album to quickly capitalize on the critical reception. Fame came by accident. “I didn’t even mean to be signed,” he toldRaygun Magazinein 1994 of his first live recordings for Columbia Records. “I didn’t want to have it on an album.”
Abandoned by his musician father, who also died young, Buckley was terrified of being dismissed as a sellout, a case of nepotism or, as kids now refer to it, an industry plant, foisted onto the public as a generic, pre-packaged pop singer.A bitter pill for a guy who felt more at ease playing in tiny, half-empty cafés. Additionally, it’s been reported that he was in debt to his label (new artists traditionally get screwed over on contracts), under acute pressure to make the follow-up more commercial. If true, he had to feel trapped by his own fame, which was now cramping his style. His mental state at the time of his death,and possible depression, remains speculative.
The Great Oscar Bait That Never Was
Those with a stellar memory might recall the brewing hype for a Buckley film in 2011. Back in 2012, we covered the story too. That never happened for reasons that are still not entirely clear.The film’s entry persists on IMDb, but the movie’s data has likely not been updated for several years. The biopic — at one point announced to be in production withPenny DreadfulandHouse of Guccistar Reeve Carney in the lead andPatricia Arquette as Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert — is in serious development hell. That’s being kind. We don’t know if anything was ever filmed. At this point, the 42-year-old actor is likely too old to play the 20-something singer, lest we want to risk another Kevin Spacey-Bobby Darin situation.
Strangely, at the time, Guibert gave the thumbs up to Carney, and the producers named the director and cinematographer. “This will be the only official dramatization of Jeff’s story which I can promise his fans will be true to him and to his legacy,” she toldVarietyin 2021. “Thankfully, my determination to assemble all the right participants, no matter how long it took, is about to culminate in the best way possible.” There had been a small movie released in 2012 titledGreetings From Tim Buckley, starring Penn Badgley as Jeff Buckley, but, asRolling Stonepointed out, that film bore little resemblance to his real life, met with mixed reviews from fans and critics.
We still don’t know if Guibert had a change of heart or if a casting shake-up derailed the film, but this was hardly the first adaptation pitched to Buckley’s family. After so many years in the negotiation phase, this documentary is a small, hard-fought victory. Much earlier, Brad Pitt angled tobring the life of Buckley to theaters, pitching himself as the guy to portray the alt-rock crooner. “It’s been a bit of an obsession,” he said in aBBCinterview.
Pitt was in a delicate situation, having to audition for Buckley’s own mother in an attempt to gain legal access to Buckley’s catalog of music, including some posthumously released songs, which were necessary to illustrate his journey. Those efforts fell through, Buckley’s mother hating every proposal.She wasn’t particularly impressed by Pitt, nor was she flattered by the fervent interest in her son’s life. Pitt entered a bidding war with other producers, all vying for the rights to a movie that never materialized.It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckleyopened on August 8, before moving to video-on-demand on HBO Max.
