Music biopics are by and large formulaic, strained and unimaginative, despite sometimes featuring Oscar-winning performances (Jamie Foxx in Ray, Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line). In fact, those two films I just mentioned perfectly illustrate my point: they have the exact same plot, despite centering on two equally great musicians who were wildly different from each other. The two competing films based on the short, brilliant life of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley have the potential to transcend those limits and approach the epic scale of Amadeus or the mad joy of creation found in the great Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould.
The Playlist brings us updates on both of these projects. Director Jake Scott‘s take on the singer’s life – using David Browne‘s book Dream Brothers: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley “as a resource” – stars Reeve Carney, star of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark as Buckley, and now we’ve learned that Carney will be recording Buckley’s songs for the film. 
Carney, who has formed a friendship with Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert, recently told Billboard:
“I was thrilled to be involved in something that tells Jeff’s story and focus on his life, and also be in something that his mother is involved in. And being able to sing his songs…I love Jeff’s songs, so I was really happy to be a part of a film that showcases his music.”
Carney describes the filmmakers’ vision of the film as something that will honor the much-loved Buckley’s life and legacy, as well as touch on the “mystic quality,” so similar to James Dean‘s.
Carney also sees the parallel projects in a different light than most of the media covering their development:
“I read both scripts,” Carney adds. “I don’t see them as competing at all. I think the only similarity between the two is the fact that the character’s named Jeff Buckley.”
So it’s tempting to consider these projects as light and dark reflections of each other, rather than competing on the same level and approaching the subject in the same way. This is most likely an oversimplification, but it’s hard to resist jumping to that conclusion, what with Carney’s angelic face and Buckley’s angelic voice, and the other, more slightly badass piece of news we have here: the presence of Anthrax bassist Frank Bello in the other Buckley project, who will be playing punk rock icon Richard Hell.
Filming of director Dan Algrant‘s take on the singer’s life, Greetings From Tim Buckley, kicked off on August 22nd, and The Playlist gives us this synopsis:
The film will tell 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. There, he meets in a young woman (Imogen Poots) and they take a four day journey and he comes to understand the father who abandoned him. The film will caps off with the performance of his father’s most famous songs, a stunning performance which launched his music career.
Where does Richard Hell figure into all this? The Television and Voidoids rocker performed two Buckley songs at the tribute concert, “Moulin Rouge” and “Jungle Fire”—and closed with “I’m Livin’ On (Chinese Rocks)” which he dedicated both to Buckley and to New York Dolls frontman Johnny Thunders, who had gone to that great glitter rock show in the sky the week before.
These projects sound engagingly different from one another, and while I’m not a die-hard Jeff Buckley fan, I do admire his music and am curious enough to follow these films as they develop.
Are you a Jeff Buckley fan? How do you feel about this due of biopics?