Penn Badgley to play Jeff Buckley in 'Greetings from Tim Buckley'

One of the two dueling Jeff Buckley movies has found its leading man: Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley will play the late singer-songwriter in the biographical drama Greetings from Tim Buckley, producers for the film announced today. The film, which director Dan Algrant (People I Know) will begin shooting in New York in August, focuses on the days leading up to Buckley’s now-famous performance at a tribute concert in honor of his father, Tim Buckley, in Brooklyn in 1991. (Buckley, who is perhaps best known for his bare-bones version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” drowned in Tennessee’s Wolf River in 1997.)

Another Buckley film, based on the biography Dream Brother by former EW music critic David Browne, is also in the works, though no star has been announced. (Robert Pattinson is one of several actors rumored to be in the running.) As for Badgley, he’s definitely got one thing going for him: He’s the same age, 24, as Buckley was in 1991, when the film takes place.