Jeff Buckley’s estate rejected Brad Pitt’s plans for biopic on late singer
Jeff Buckley’s mother has revealed that Brad Pitt had planned to portray the late singer in a film which was rejected by the estate.
Buckley was only 30 when he tragically died in 1997. Despite his influence as an artist and a person, his story has yet to be turned into a dramatised film. Mary Guibert, Jeff Buckley’s mother, has confirmed that the absence of a biopic is not due to a lack of trying, as Pitt once approached her with an idea which never materialised.
The new documentary It’s Never Over, about Buckley’s life, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24th. However, as noted in the new film, the original plans for the movie can be traced back to an idea that Pitt brought forward in 2000. Guibert confirmed that the actor had become a friend, and he asked for permission to turn her son’s story into a biopic.
Guibert was originally open to the idea, and it looked for a moment as though it might go ahead; however, plans soon fell through as she was left feeling sceptical.
When she was talking to Pitt about the idea of him playing Buckley, she said (per Variety), “We’re going to dye your hair, put brown contact lenses on those baby blues, and you’re going to open your mouth, and Jeff’s voice is going to come out?”
Pitt wasn’t the only person keen on making Buckley’s story into a biopic. The director, Amy Berg, had previously won an Oscar nomination for her 2006 documentary Deliver Us from Evil. She wanted to move from nonfiction pieces to biopics, but her inexperience with such pictures at the time hindered the chances of working on a Buckley film, as Guibert confirmed she had no interest in “being in a someone’s-learning-on-the-job situation.”
Guibert previously confirmed in 2021 that she would co-produce a biopic about Buckley’s life alongside Reeve Carvey. “This will be the only official dramatisation of Jeff’s story,” she said, “Which I can promise his fans will be true to him and to his legacy.” However, there hasn’t been any news or further updates on this biopic since.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.