According to Deadline, Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley has been selected to play the role of Jeff Buckley in the upcoming bio pic Greetings From Tim Buckley.

We first reported on this bio pic over two years ago when the working film title was Mystery White Boy. Fred and I quickly took our respective corners as to how the role should be filled. Fred said that it should be done on acting talent alone while my stance was that the director needed to find someone who could sing and then teach them to act. It seems as though they’ve tried to fill both demands in one go. You can watch a video interview with Badgley below which features a little bit of him singing and playing piano. While it sounds as though Badgley is more of a crooner you have to admit that he has some chops and a definite love for music and respect for Buckley.

The premise of the movie goes something like this: “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.”

Now it’s your turn. Is Penn Badgley the right choice? Remember that the other names on the short list were Jared Leto, James Franco, James Marsden and Robert Pattison. All I can say is that I’m really happy that Robert Pattison was not the chosen one. It would have been a travesty to go and see this film in theaters just to be surrounded by Twilight fanatics that are just there to gaze into the eyes of Pattison.

Update: So apparently there are two Jeff Buckley flicks in the works right now. The one that is mentioned above is not the same one that we wrote about 2 years ago. Greetings From Tim Buckley is obviously not a true bio pic but more of the rise to stardom story of Jeff and which does not have the rights to use Jeff’s music. The other film is the one where Jeff’s mother, Mary Guibert, is the executive producer on. This film has the exclusive rights to the music as well as Jeff Browne’s Dream Brother. Up ’til now that film is yet untitled.

(via Film Drunk)