Penn is nominated at this year’s Teen Choice Awards for Movie Actor in a Comedy for Easy A and TV Actor for Gossip Girl. Be sure to vote here. Thanks to @roughrider92!

Penn Badgley is going to be a busy guy this summer. Gossip Girl begins shooting its fifth season on July 7, and come August, he’ll simultaneously be shooting the recently announced Jeff Buckley biopic, on location in Brooklyn and Manhattan. “It’ll be intense, but it’ll be fun,” he said of his work schedule at Coach Men’s summer party on the High Line last night. We caught up with Badgley there and had a quick chat with him about the film and the general doubt about his ability to play the part.

This Jeff Buckley biopic. You’re definitely doing it?
Yes, I am.

Are you taking singing lessons?
I haven’t begun vocal lessons, but I’m taking guitar lessons. I’m obviously, like, throwing myself 200 percent into it. I’m just really prepping in every possible manner, and yeah, vocal lessons will at some point be involved. But it is going to be me playing and singing..

What strikes you as the most difficult thing about playing the part?
Well, it’s really kind of a quiet and beautiful different meditation on the Jeff Buckley that people think they might know, because he’s greatly mythologized, obviously. But this is looking at him when he first came to New York City and is basically discovering himself and his voice and his style, and is first breathing life into the music that he eventually created. So, you know, if you want to know the bullet points of his career and his tragic death, then watch the documentary and listen to his album. This is actually, I think, artistically, something that is really valuable and different.

Does the script include his death?
No. No, it doesn’t.

So you said you’ll be prepping in every way for the Buckley movie. Guitar lessons, vocal lessons. What else?
For prep? You know, really, without digging too much into it, it’s a massive undertaking playing anyone who is real; furthermore, someone who has passed. And then furthermore someone who was so gifted and artistic, so, you know, it’s a process that I’m not even 100 percent aware of yet, but it’s been happening for a while, and it’s going to continue until the last day of shooting, and even after. And it has influenced me and inspired me and changed my own music, and my vision, I think, as an artist. And, you know, the reason I’m telling you is because, obviously, there’s a whole lot of people who are skeptical, so I would … I just want to be clear that I’m very moved by the opportunity, and I really am giving myself to it.

Source, thanks to @Rali55 and @ChandlerDillon

GALLERY LINKS:
Appearances > 2011 > Coach Men’s Presents “Summer Party on the Line” – June 28, 2011

Penn Badgley will star as Jeff Buckley in “Greetings from Tim Buckley.” Now in preproduction, the film will start shooting in August under the direction of Dan Algrant (“Naked in New York”). Algrant wrote the script with Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel.

“Greetings from Tim Buckley” is not being positioned as a Jeff Buckley biopic but as a father-son drama. All music for the film will come from the Tim Buckley estate, with one exception: Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which Jeff Buckley covered on his only studio album, the 1994 “Grace.”

Here’s the logline:

“Greetings from Tim Buckley” follows the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he comes to understand the father who abandoned him. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time.

The 25-year-old Badgley has been acting more more than a decade and is best known for his role in the hit WB series “Gossip Girl.” Said Badgley in a statement, “To play a man who was singularly gifted as an artist, greatly misunderstood and mythologized as a human being… It’s something very special and sacred. I’m going to give all I can to this project.”

Tim Buckley made nine studio albums before he died at 28 in 1977, after a drug overdose. Jeff Buckley died at 30 in 1997, in an accidental drowning.

The film’s producers are Patrick Milling Smith of Smuggler Films, Fred Zollo of A-Z Prods. and John N. Hart of Second Chance Prods. The executive producers are Brian Carmody, Jill Footlick and Ben Limberg. The DP is Andrij Parekh, who also shot “Blue Valentine” and “Half Nelson.”

Said Smith in a statement:

“In its purest form this is a father and son story, a rite of passage that is made possible by a romantic journey Jeff finds himself on. We see Jeff accepting who he is to become and laying to rest the ghost of his father while ultimately finding his voice. 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 is also developing the stage production of “Once,” which will premiere in December at the NY Theatre Workshop. Also in preproduction is the feature “Becket,” written and directed by William Monahan.

Source, thanks to @ChandlerDillon for the link!

New rumors swirling around the long-awaited Jeff Buckley biopic have falsely pitted actor Penn Badgley as the lead in the film about the late singer-songwriter. According to the film’s co-producer, Orian Williams, the gossip surrounding the “Gossip Girl” star is compounded on further inaccuracies that “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson had been considered a shoe-in for the role of the enigmatic singer-songwriter.

“Penn is not involved in the film at all,” Williams said in a phone interview. “It’s crazy how these stories get out.” When asked about Pattinson’s involvement with the film, Williams said that although he’s a fan of the British actor, he’d only had preliminary meetings with Pattinson, who was interested in auditioning for the film project, now almost six years in the making. Williams, along with producer Michelle Sy, casting director Billy Hopkins and executive producer Mary Guibert, Buckley’s mother, are still seeking out actors for the casting process, which will likely begin in October, Williams said.

Most likely, the film will star an unknown actor who can portray Buckley without the weight of any preconceived Hollywood expectations, added Williams, who helped cast Sam Riley in the lead role of Ian Curtis in the 2007 biopic “Control” about the Joy Division front man. Williams said he’s hoping to follow the same standards of finding someone with a low profile who can deliver Buckley’s intense personality and haunting falsetto. “[The producers] are all very unified in our search to find the perfect person to play Jeff,” Williams said.

Currently, the film is set to shoot in New York and Tennessee, where the story largely takes place. Though he rebuts rumors regarding the part of Buckley, Williams said that all kinds of actors and musicians have expressed interest in auditioning.

“When you have a story about an individual like Jeff you get a lot of interest because his life was so impactful and so short,” Williams said.

Buckley was 30 when he drowned in May 1997 after deciding to go swimming in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River. News of a film about his life circulated as early as 2006, two years before Williams came to the project. Williams said that though the film has had a long gestation period, many measures have been taken to make sure that the foundation and intentions are authentic.

“We’re being very careful about it as we move forward,” Williams said. “It takes a while to perfect this type of film. You’ve got to do it for the right reasons.”

Source

I think this may still be rumored, but thanks to @Rali55 for letting me know about it:

Poor Robert Pattinson! The actor was working hard to score the role of Jeff Buckley, the famous musician who died young at age 30, in a biopic movie about his life. Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley snagged the part instead, a source exclusively tells HollywoodLife.com. “Robert Pattinson is devastated he’s lost out on the one role he really wanted,” says our insider. “It was down to Rob, James Franco and Penn for the part, and Rob was really pushing himself to get it.”

Our source continues, “Rob hasn’t heard ‘no’ a lot lately, so he’s really bummed. He was passionate about this project.” Things were looking good for Rob, who was reportedly “obsessed” with landing the lead. Jeff Buckley’s mother and executive producer of the movie Mary Guibert, 62, even weighed in, saying “Robert is a fine young actor. I’m flattered he’s been linked to this project. When the time comes we’ll give everybody an opportunity to be seen and heard.” Producer Michelle Sy confirmed Rob was “keen” on the part as well, and also revealed they are looking for someone who can “play music and sing”.

Although Rob is disappointed he didn’t get the role, Penn is over the moon. “Penn is thrilled to get this role and thinks it’s the film of a lifetime,” our insider confesses. “He’s been trying to push out of the ‘Gossip Girl’ image and knows this film will be the perfect opportunity to do so.” Congrats Penn!

Jake Scott is set to direct and Ryan Jaffe is writing the script for the highly anticipated movie.

Watch the videos below of Penn singing (one is when he’s so young!) and tell us — do you think he’ll do a great job playing Jeff Buckley? Or would you prefer Robert Pattinson?

Source

A real-life version of “The Young and Restless” rolled around Manhattan Saturday morning. According to a source, deejay Leigh Lezark, celebrity photographer Steven Taylor and “Easy A” co-stars Emma Stone and Penn Badgley capped a night of partying by downing Ukrainian soul food, peanut-butter pie and cheesecake at Veselka restaurant in the East Village. The Hollywood hot set, minus Lezark, had spent the night doing tequila shots at The Spotted Pig and Rose Bar, but despite their shared good looks, “not much flirting” occurred, says the insider. Instead, the trio discussed Badgley’s trip to Nicaragua (he departed Monday).

Source, thanks to @roughrider92!

GALLERY LINKS:
2011 > Out in SoHo – May 27, 2011/a>