Jared Leto is reportedly down to play Jeff Buckley in a potential new biopic about the iconic crooner.
Buckley’s former manager Dave Lory says the chameleon actor and Thirty Seconds To Mars frontman has expressed interest in the role, following the release of Lory’s new book, Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye.
“I have been approached, and there are some people reading the book right now,” he explains to 90’s Music podcast Desperate Times. “Movies take a long time, I don’t claim to be an expert at it, but the basis is there.”
“Jared Leto wanted to play [Jeff Buckley],” he confirms. “I know the [Buckley] estate was trying to do a movie, and they’ve had several false starts. But there’s enough people out there, and some other people who have talked about playing me, so we’ll see.
“I heard Christian Bale, which would be a compliment because I’m not that good looking,” he jokes. “The thing is, a lot of these actors want to do credible pieces to keep their credibility after blockbusters, but we’ll see.”
Lory also adds that several producers have had a favourable reaction to his book, with one telling him “The Jeff Buckley story hasn’t been told” yet on screen.
“One of them said, ‘Wow it’s got the love story, you meet your wife on the road with Jeff Buckley. You get married, you have two kids, there’s tragedy, there’s musical genius. It’s got everything you need’,” Lory continues.
“I think it’s more of a period piece, because that particular time period, the old show Vinyl didn’t really do justice to the music industry. They didn’t listen to the people that were on their board, or the advisors that were in the music industry. The late 80’s and 90’s was a time when hip-hop and punk, and all of these musical genres merged.”
You can watch his full interview in the podcast below.
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