Greetings from Tim Buckley | |
---|---|
Directed by | Daniel Algrant |
Written by | Daniel Algrant Emma Sheanshang David Brendel |
Produced by | Patrick Milling-Smith Fred Zollo John Hart Amy Nauiokas |
Starring | Penn Badgley Imogen Poots |
Cinematography | Andrij Parekh |
Edited by | Bill Pankow |
Distributed by | Tribeca Film Focus World |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $11,157 [1] |
Greetings from Tim Buckley is a 2012 American film directed by Daniel Algrant starring Penn Badgley and Imogen Poots. The film follows the journey Jeff Buckley took in grappling with the legacy of his late musician father, Tim, leading up to and culminating with his performance of his father's songs. [2] The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2012 to generally positive reviews. The film was released on May 3, 2013, in a limited release.
In 1991, a young Jeff Buckley rehearses for his public singing debut at a Brooklyn tribute show for his father, the late folk singer Tim Buckley. Struggling with the legacy of a man he barely knew, Jeff forms a friendship with an enigmatic young woman Allie, working at the show and begins to discover the powerful potential of his own musical voice. Greetings from Tim Buckley is filled with stirring musical performances and the memorable songs of a father and son who were each among the most beloved singer/songwriters of their respective generations. [3]
The only audition tape that came in that took on that record store scene was Penn's, and it was almost as you see it. He just did it and took such risks, and anyone who's going to take such risks on his audition is my guy. When we filmed it, I remember saying, 'Keep going, be bold,' because I would think Jeff would want him to be bold and bolder and boldest, and so we went that way.
Principal photography took place in August and September 2011 in New York City. [7] [8] Interior scenes were shot at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn where Buckley's actual gig occurred back in 1991. [9] Production was managed by Smuggler Films and A-Z productions. Screenwriters are Emma Sheanshang, David Brendel and Daniel Algrant. The executive producers include Brian Carmody and Jill Footlick (Boys Don't Cry, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) and Ben Limberg. Producers are Fred Zollo, Patrick Milling-Smith, John Hart, and Amy Nauiokas. Avy Kauffman is the casting director. [2]
Music used in the film comes from the Tim Buckley estate, except Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which Jeff Buckley covered on his only studio album, the 1994 Grace . [10] Jeff's character and Gary Lucas also jam on the instrumental of "Grace" as a song idea that Gary had. Singer-songwriter Jann Klose sings and plays guitar on the Tim Buckley songs, "Song For Janie," "Pleasant Street," and "Once I Was." [11]
Badgley was cast after he sent a tape of him singing. [12] The audition tape that he sent included an interpretation of Led Zeppelin III , which also appears in the film. [13] For the role, Badgley lost some weight: "I remember in my head thinking, 'I'm never going to be able to get as thin as him, so I'm just going to stop working out. I'm just going to stop getting in the sun. I'm just going to try to get as thin and pale as possible'." [14] He also took guitar and vocal lessons. [15] The vocal coach taught him how to warm up and warm down his voice and the guitar teacher taught him scales and progressions. [16] Serving as a consultant, songwriter and former collaborator of Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas played and rehearsed with Badgley. [17] Badgley performed all his singing scenes live. [18]
Pictures of the set surfaced on August 22, 2011. [19] while the first official images were released on August 14, 2012, with additional ones on August 24, 2012. [20] [21]
Algrant explained: "The concert is true – the rest is fictionalized and conjecture. I really tried to be as emotionally honest as I could be, as opposed to having to worry about truth." [12]
Celluloid Dreams obtained the international rights in January 2012. [22] Tribeca Film and Focus World acquired the U.S. rights in December 2012. [23]
Greetings from Tim Buckley had its world premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2012. [24] The film was also screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2013 [25] and was released in a limited release on May 3, 2013.
Upon its premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter said it was a "sensitive, well-cast film about father-son musicians Tim and Jeff Buckley gets the emotions and music just right". Young also praised lead actor Badgley for his "vibrant break-out performance" noting his "seductive energy" and Poots pointing out her "strong screen presence". [26] Rolling Stone was also positive of Badgley's portrayal writing he "does an impressive turn as Jeff." [12] The Globe and Mail placed Greetings from Tim Buckley among their top six favorite movies of the festival. [27] Variety 's Dennis Harvey was critical of the narration deeming it "scant". He described Jeff as "a fine illustration of how good, even great art can be made by exasperating personalities that only a groupie (or biographer) could love" and concluded: "The result is at once skillfully observed and a bit so-what." [28]
Frank Bello is an American musician who plays bass for the thrash metal band Anthrax. Bello was also in Helmet from 2004 to 2005 and has been touring bassist of Norwegian black metal band Satyricon since 2024.
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, songwriter, and composer who was a member of Captain Beefheart's band. He formed the band Gods and Monsters in 1989.
Michael Winterbottom is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People—have competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He and co-director Mat Whitecross won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival for their work on The Road to Guantanamo.
Norbert Leo Butz is an American actor and singer known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the award twice.
Penn Dayton Badgley is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in The CW teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2012) and Joe Goldberg in the Netflix psychological thriller series You (2018–present).
Imogen Gay Poots is an English actress. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Weeks Later (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013), Debbie Raymond in the Paul Raymond biopic The Look of Love (2013), and Julia Maddon in the American action film Need for Speed (2014). Also in 2014, she portrayed Jess Crichton in A Long Way Down, alongside Pierce Brosnan and Aaron Paul. She appeared as Isabella "Izzy" Patterson in Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way. In 2016, she starred as Kelly Ann in the Showtime series Roadies. In 2019, she co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg in the films Vivarium and The Art of Self-Defense. In 2020, she played Laura in The Father (2020). In 2022, she began playing the role of the mysterious Autumn in the Prime Video science fiction neo-Western series Outer Range.
Frank Wood is an American actor who has appeared in various television, film, and theatre roles.
Jann Klose is a German pop singer-songwriter, who has released seven albums and two EPs. Based in New York City, Klose was raised in Kenya, South Africa, Germany, and northeast Ohio. His original songs have charted on Top 40 radio in the United States and South Africa. He is the singing voice of Tim Buckley in the movie Greetings from Tim Buckley, starring Penn Badgley and Imogen Poots, released by Focus Features and Tribeca Film. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Jann talks about guitarist and collaborator Gary Lucas recommending him to director Dan Algrant to sing in the movie. He has performed as an actor and singer in touring companies of Broadway musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Jekyll & Hyde, and The Who's Tommy as well as made for TV movies, voice overs and commercials. In 2005, the off-Broadway production Moonlight Interior, a musical based on Klose's music and directed by Yoel Cassell, premiered in New York City.
William Thomas Sadler is an American stage, film, and television actor. His television and motion picture roles have included Chesty Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, Senator Vernon Trent in Hard to Kill, Death in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and Bill & Ted Face the Music, and Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2. He played Matthew Ellis in Iron Man 3, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and WHIH Newsfront. He also recurs as John McGarrett in the 2010 remake of the 1968 television series Hawaii Five-O, and the Boston boxing promoter and suspected drug dealer Gino Fish in the Jesse Stone television film series, opposite Tom Selleck. He also played Don in the 1992 movie Trespass.
Azazel Jacobs is an American film director and screenwriter. He is the son of experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs. His short films include Kirk and Kerry (1997) and Message Machine (2002), and his features include well reviewed The GoodTimesKid (2005), Momma's Man (2008), Terri (2011), The Lovers (2017), French Exit (2020), and His Three Daughters (2023).
Lucas Hedges is an American actor. A son of filmmaker Peter Hedges, he studied theater at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Hedges began his acting career with a supporting role in Wes Anderson's comedy-drama Moonrise Kingdom (2012). He had his breakthrough in 2016 playing a sardonic teenager in Kenneth Lonergan's drama Manchester by the Sea, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, among other accolades. Hedges then starred as an aggressive youth in an off-Broadway production of Yen and had supporting roles in the coming-of-age film Lady Bird and the drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017.
Daniel Algrant is an American filmmaker and writer. He co-wrote and directed Naked in New York (1993), a film produced by Martin Scorsese. Algrant was a repeat director for the television series Sex and The City and the director of films People I Know (2002) and Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012). Algrant is an alumnus of Harvard University and the Columbia University Film school.
Ben Rosenfield is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Willie Thompson on the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's period crime drama series Boardwalk Empire (2013–2014). He starred in leading roles in Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012), Affluenza (2014), and 6 Years (2016) as well as supporting roles in Song One (2014), Indignation (2016), Person to Person (2017), and Mickey and the Bear (2019).
She's Funny That Way is a 2014 screwball comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-written with Louise Stratten. It stars Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans, and Jennifer Aniston. It marked the first feature film Bogdanovich directed in 13 years since The Cat's Meow. In addition, the film marked Bogdanovich's final non-documentary feature he directed and Richard Lewis' final theatrical film before their deaths in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
Cymbeline is a 2014 American crime thriller film written, produced, and directed by Michael Almereyda, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, and Dakota Johnson.
Green Room is a 2015 American horror-thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, and produced by Neil Kopp, Victor Moyers and Anish Savjani. Starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner and Patrick Stewart, the film focuses on a punk band who find themselves attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at a remote club in the Pacific Northwest.
A Country Called Home is a 2015 American drama film directed by Anna Axster and starring Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis, Ryan Bingham, Mary McCormack and June Squibb. It is Axster's feature directorial debut.
The Teacher is a 2023 drama film written and directed by British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi. It stars Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, and Muhammad Abed Elrahman. It premiered at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2023.
Baltimore is a 2023 thriller film written and directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy. It is based on the life of Rose Dugdale, a British heiress-turned-IRA member, played by Imogen Poots. The film is an international co-production between Ireland and the United Kingdom.
All of You is a 2024 American science fiction romantic drama film directed by William Bridges. It stars Brett Goldstein, Imogen Poots, Zawe Ashton, Steven Cree, and Jenna Coleman. Goldstein also served as a co-writer and co-producer. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024.