Brad Pitt Wanted to Play Jeff Buckley in a Biopic but the Musician's Mom Nixed It — Here's Why

Yahoo

31-01-2025

Brad Pitt once explored the possibility of starring in a biopic about Jeff Buckley, a talented and promising musician who died in 1997 at the age of 30.
Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, has revealed that the Wolfs star, 61, asked her for permission to create the biopic after inviting her to his 2000 wedding to Jennifer Aniston, which she quickly granted.
'If there's 20 people calling you, and Brad Pitt is one of them, who are you gonna pick to go see?' Guibert told Variety with a laugh, though she admitted that she was still hesitant to go through with the movie.
''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?' she recalled asking Pitt.
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Guibert said the pair stayed in touch over the years — even after she ultimately made the decision to not go ahead with the biopic idea and instead make a documentary to honor the life of her only son, who is best known for his cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and the 1994 album Grace.
During the process of making the documentary, Guibert said she had Pitt's support, as he helped to preserve all of Buckley's belongings and bring it to a digital space. He even became a producer on the film, called It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, per Variety.
She also had the help of director Amy Berg — best-known for her documentary work on West of Memphis — who took on the project. She told Variety that she shared Guibert's vision for the film.
'Once I started listening to his voicemail messages and his DAP player and demos and reading his journals, I just couldn't imagine it being anything but a documentary,' Berg explained. 'I just didn't know how you could kind of replicate Jeff in that scripted sense.'
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One of the things the new documentary will shed light on is Buckley's death. Berg told Variety that there was an idea that 'Jeff probably overdosed, which was far from the truth,' noting that his death was attributed to drowning in a Memphis river. She said the late singer's legacy is one which transcends time.
'One of the great things about Jeff Buckley is you discover him when you're meant to discover him,' Berg said. 'He has definitely made a big impact on TikTok, where I was surprised to see that he has more followers on the Jeff Buckley hashtag than even Bob Dylan. He's definitely having another moment in pop culture history.'
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It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24.
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