Penn Badgley to Play Jeff Buckley

Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley will play Jeff Buckley in the biopic Greetings from Tim Buckley, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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The film will focus on the days leading up to Buckley's 1991 appearance at his father's tribute concert at Brooklyn's St. Ann's Church that launched his career. Buckley drowned in Tennessee's Wolf River Harbor in 1997."We had been searching well over a year for an actor that can come close to Jeff's spirit while also having the serious musical chops required to authentically tell this story. Penn's audition blew us away and we knew we found our star," Smuggler Films said in a statement.

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Dan Algrant (People I Know), who co-wrote the script with Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel, will direct.Greetings is one of two Buckley pictures in the works. The second one, based on the biography Dream Brother by David Browne, is still searching for a star.