Broadway’s Spider-Man to play Jeff Buckley in biopic

The star of Broadway's
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Reeve Carney, has signed on to play the renowned singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley in an upcoming film about the late musician from director Jake Scott (
Welcome to the Rileys), the son of director Ridley Scott (
Robin Hood).

Carney, who performed Spider-Man music by U2's Bono and The Edge, will sing Buckley's songs. Buckley had just released his first solo album, Grace, when he drowned at age 30 in 1997. His second album was released posthumously.

It is one of three films in development about the musician. Greetings From Tim Buckley is an indie film directed by Dan Algrant that begins shooting this month. Starring Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley, the story focuses on Buckley's reconnecting with his father Tim, the 1960's folk-singer, when performing at a tribute concert.

The third Buckley film is an Australian production titled A Pure Drop, based on the book A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley.

Scott has exclusive rights to Buckley's music and personal archives, including the artist's signature version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, has approved this project and is executive producer.

The script is adapted from David Browne's book Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley. Production is scheduled for November.

RC