Does Penn Badgley Do Jeff Buckley Justice? Trailer For 'Greetings From Tim Buckley'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
September 18, 2012 4:06 PM
4 Comments

Well, with TIFF now done for another year, there are still some big titles left to pick up, and one of them if Dan Alagrant's "Greetings From Tim Buckley." While its officially sanctioned rival project "Mystery White Boy" is still having trouble getting off the ground, with new director Amy Berg attached last week, and leading man Reeve Carney possibly moving on, 'Greetings' hit Toronto and presented "Gossip Girl" star Penn Badgley as the late, great Jeff Buckley. And you know what? He was pretty damn good.

The film chronicles the roughly 48 hours in the lead up to Jeff's appearance at the tribute concert to his father Tim Buckley at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn in 1991, while croscutting to flashbacks of Tim's life. While we had our issues with the movie which we thought was a bit uneven (review here) Badgley does step up and show off a formidable set of pipes, which you'll see and hear in the lengthy trailer below. Imogen Poots co-stars as his mostly underutilized love interest, but the movie does get the music right, which if anything is perhaps the most important element.

But what do you think? Check out the trailer below and tell us if Badgley impressed you. Like we said, no distributor and thus no release date yet, but we figure it'll find a home soon enough. [Pitchfork]

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4 Comments

| Reply
ry | September 18, 2012 10:56 PMReply

impressed...what an evolution!
Sean | September 18, 2012 9:49 PMReply

Wow i am very impressed. Who knew Penn badgley could act outside of tv. I always kinda believed he could given his looks & charm. but this is a surprise
cirkusfolk | September 18, 2012 7:00 PMReply

Did Jeff actually cover Once I Was at his dad's tribute concert? If so I haven't heard it but that is my favorite Tim Buckley song.
Serena | September 19, 2012 2:43 AM

Yeah, Jeff did actually cover "Once I Was." You can hear it here: http://youtu.be/Oy7qTC2Sno4

I think Penn's too good-looking to play Jeff, who was skinnier and didn't have the best skin actually--but he gets the voice down really, really well, and in the end that's what matters the most. And even if the movie's not very good, at least it'll introduce a new generation to Jeff and Tim's music.