A Biopic of Jeff Buckley’s life was announced in 2006 but has been kept under wraps since then. Initially Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, had refused proposals of a biopic but reconsidered and hand picked a team to work with. Michelle Sy, producer of the J.M Barrie biopic Finding Neverland, was Guibert’s first pick along with young director Brian Jun (Steel City), who was selected to write a script which was expected in the Fall of ’06. Since this initial team was put together there have been some revisions, Jun has been replaced by screenwriter Ryan Jaffe (The Rocker) and IMDB is speculating a 2010 release for Mystery White Boy.
But screw all that, let’s talk about what really matters – Who should play Jeff Buckley? The names that have been dropped so far are Jared Leto, James Franco, James Marsden and Robert Pattinson. We all know that Leto can sing but he’s not really known for his ability to jump octaves like Buckley could. James Franco looks surprisingly like Buckley but who knows if he can sing. I don’t know much about James Marsden and I can’t go along with Robert Pattinson simply because he was in Twilight. It will probably end up being easier for Sy to find a multiple octave singer and teaching them to act rather then find an actor and teach them to sing like Buckley.
Biopics are a delicate area, especially when the film is about a revered person that most people believe to have contributed something great to society. No one wants to see a movie depicting the life of someone they admire just to find out that they abused their spouse or children, were secretly addicted to drugs or were racists. We love our heros and even more than that we love the pedestals that we have built for them to stand on and hate to see them come crashing down. Everyone you know has demons, the rich and famous, doubly so. But exploiting those demons for dramatic affect, especially to do with Buckley, would not end well for Sy. Luckily I don’t believe that Guibert would let that happen. It appears that she has a pretty close eye on this one.
OK, this is the third time I’ve tried to comment. The first two times I’ve been interrupted by people wanting me to do my job, or something. As if!
Some scattershot thoughts on your post:
1. Casting should make their choice — even their choice for the lead role — on acting talent first and foremost. Everything else is negotiable, even looks. Take The Doors. Did Val Kilmer’s (quite unbelievable) resemblance to Jim Morrison in face and voice make the film for you? Me neither. It may have actually distracted me some.
2. Movies about really nice people, upstanding citizens, folks who show up for jury duty and hold the door at 7-Eleven open for little old ladies? Yawn! We should hope for a warts-and-all film which, from the sound of it, we might not get.
3. Rarely do you and I disagree on every individual point, but I also don’t see how biopics are that delicate an issue in the first place. Or at least they aren’t treated that way. Word has it that Hollyweird was even trying to come up with a way to let George Clooney’s character survive at the end of The Perfect Storm (!!!). Talk about irreverence…
1. If perfection is distracting (which I have to agree it is) then no wonder you’re not getting any work done. You need to take that Brooke Burke picture off your computer.
Seriously though, the difference between this and Val Kilmer is that Jim Morrison, you have to admit, was known more for his antics and pushing the envelope and not for his vocal abilities. The Doors was a movie about a bombastic person’s behavior that just so happened to be a musician. Mystery White Boy will be the exact opposite, a seclusive man with a mundane life that has a magnificent singing voice. You have to cast those two roles differently.
2. You’re right, the person that helps old ladies across the street and picks up all the trash as he walks down the side walk would be a boring story. But that’s because that person will probably never do anything with their life other then work, eat and sleep, and that might define a fulfilled life for them. Buckley came from a broken home (ordinary), father was a famous musician who he only met once (not ordinary), influenced thousands of musicians with the release of only one album (definitely not ordinary). I believe that you can do all that and still be a nice person. Granted I have never read a Jeff Buckley biography, I’m sure there are some demons in there somewhere.
3. People are fickle. If a celebrity is alive then they want all the dirt that they can dig up but once that person is dead they tend to let thing lie and shy away from rumors and the dirtier bits of that persons life. I can’t claim to know what Hollywood would do with this film if they had the chance. I do hope that Guibert is fair without glossing over Buckley’s life with wishing stars and puppy dog tails. That too would be a disservice to his memory.
i’m personally looking forward to this movie. and i have read “dream brother” and it said that jjeff experimented with heroin but obviously knew the dangers of it. seeing how his dad overdosed on it. i’d prefer james franco over any of them but really? who are you gonna find who can sing like jeff buckley? but that being said jeff had somewhat of a love life so that can always be in the movie. i think it’s gonna be cool to see him have a montage of making grace or something touring or something i don’t know. and then recording sketches for my sweetheart the drunk in his memphis one bed room house thing recording them over michael bolten tapes. or when he walks out of walmart with those boots. which is the thing everyone seems to remember when i talk to people about jeff buckley. “ohh he drowned with boots on right?!” haha i guess yeah.