Written by Sarah
The long-awaited Jeff Buckley biopic (once called Mystery White Boy) is happening at last and Jake Scott (son of Ridley) is onboard to direct. Long attached to the part of Buckley, James Franco exited stage left a while back when everyone realized he can’t sing to save his life, which opened up a coveted role for young actors. Once Franco vacated, my first question to my best casting contact was, “So how long before they have Robert Pattinson in for a talk?” Gossip is a buffet, as Lainey says, so here is a serving for you to take or leave: I was told Pattinson wanted this role badly; he campaigned for it, landed a meeting with the producers, and while they were impressed with his musical ability, they ultimately passed. Why? His acting, or lack thereof.
Your other choice on the buffet is that it was just a simple matter of wanting an unknown, as producers stated back in June, after some confusion arose when Penn Badgley was cast as Buckley in what turned out to be a different movie (LaineyGossip, along with pretty much everyone else, was not aware there was a second Buckley film in the works and thought Badgley beat out Pattinson). The producers gave a very diplomatic statement at the time and I never heard anything to indicate they didn’t like Pattinson, they just didn’t want to hire him. And to Pattinson’s credit, he did not go around, open-mouth begging for this role. For all the hoopla surrounding this dude, he does conduct his business affairs with discretion.
The producers of the untitled biopic did end up going with a lesser-known actor, as it was announced yesterday that Reeve Carney, best known as Broadway’s Spider-Man, would be playing Buckley in Scott’s film. Here’s an option that never occurred to me but makes almost perfect sense. He can sing and he bears an uncanny resemblance to Buckley. But can he act? He’s good enough to be on Broadway, so I assume he can. The untitled Buckley biopic is slated to start up in November. How long before Carney is a star?
(Lainey: attached - Carney at the New York premiere of One Day last week and OH MY GOD with fellow Julie Taylor protégé Jim Sturgess backstage at Spider-Man a couple of days later please let them be side by side in a photographs more often my heart, my heart, heart…)
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Photos from Bruce Glikas/Larry Busacca/Gettyimages.com