Director Jake Scott has already found the man he wants to play Jeff Buckley in a new biopic of the tragic cult folk star: The Tempest**’s Reeve Carney. And now he’s slowly building the ensemble around that actor-shaped focal point, with Patricia Arquette in the small yet pivotal role of Mary Guibert, Buckley’s mother.
The film, which according to whatever source you believe is either untitled or called Mystery White Boy, will follow Buckley’s life and cruelly short career from his early musical days and his mother’s encouragement to his tragic death at 30 in 1997.
Scott has the advantage over fellow Buckley biopic-makers (competing project Greetings From Tim Buckleyhas Penn Badgley up as Jeff), as he’s not only got the blessing of the real Mary Guibert, but also access to Buckley Jr’s music and personal archives, including key permission to use the now legendary version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Arquette’s presence will mark her second time working with a Scott after appearing in 1993 True Romance for Jake’s Uncle Tony.
Working from a script by Ryan Jaffe, Scott is looking to start filming this spring in New York.