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Today — 26 January 2025Entertainment News

Jeff Buckley’s Mom Turned Down Brad Pitt’s Biopic

25 January 2025 at 16:49
Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley. (Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

The mother of the late musician Jeff Buckley, who drowned in the Wolf River in May 1997, had a good reason to turn down Brad Pitt’s request to play the singer-songwriter in a biopic years ago.

“We’re going to dye your hair, put brown contact lenses on those baby blues, and you’re going to open your mouth and Jeff’s voice is going to come out?” a skeptical Mary Guibert told Variety of the star in an interview published on Saturday, January 25.

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Despite the fact that Pitt invited Guibert to his wedding to ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, Guibert wouldn’t budge. The pair kept speaking about the possibility of a film about Buckley’s life, and with the help of director Amy Berg, eventually landed on the best way to pay tribute to the late musician: a documentary.

“Once I started listening to his voicemail messages and his DAP player and demos and reading his journals, I just couldn’t imagine it being anything but a documentary,” Berg explained to the outlet. “And I just didn’t know how you could kind of replicate Jeff in that scripted sense.”

The result is the documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 24.

The son of Guibert and musician Tim Buckley, who left when his son was six months old and later died of a drug overdose at age 28, the younger Buckley signed a three-album deal with Columbia Records in 1992 for almost $1 million. He released his only record, Grace, in 1994 but struggled to handle the overwhelming praise from fans and musicians he admired, like his idol Bob Dylan.

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His death three years later was, as Variety put it, “shrouded in mystery.” Rolling Stone published an investigation into what went wrong that night but failed to include Buckley’s autopsy results, something that Berg believes “contributed to the legacy that Jeff probably overdosed.” Instead, the singer drowned due to the massive river’s strong undertow.

“One of the great things about Jeff Buckley is you discover him when you’re meant to discover him,” Berg also said of the singer, who is still perhaps best known for his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

“He has definitely made a big impact on TikTok, where I was surprised to see that he has more followers on the Jeff Buckley hashtag than even Bob Dylan,” she continued. “He’s definitely having another moment in pop culture history.”

Dave Franco Addresses the Internet’s Luigi Mangione Comparisons

25 January 2025 at 16:37
Dave Franco. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

Dave Franco is responding to the people comparing him to Luigi Mangione.

Franco, 39, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, January 25, where he was asked if anyone had told him about the comparisons people have made between the actor and Mangione’s likenesses. Before Franco could answer, his partner Alison Brie said, “Anyone? Do you mean everyone?”

Franco told the outlet, “I have never received more texts in my life about anything. Anyone who has my phone number has reached out about it.”

Much of the comparisons took place on social media, with people even suggesting Franco should play Mangione in a movie. “I don’t think there have been any official offers,” Brie, 42, jokingly replied. Franco added, “No, no official offers.”

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Mangione, 26, is the man suspected of shooting and killing CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson in New York City on December 4, 2024. After a five-day search, Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with murder on December 9. He was found with a ghost gun similar to the one believed to be used in Thompson’s murder, as well as a handwritten manifesto criticizing the healthcare industry. Mangione had undergone back surgery in recent years.

2025 Sundance Film Festival - Celebrity Sightings
Alison Brie and Dave Franco. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/GC Images)

Photos of Mangione went viral following his arrest, with a number of celebrities commenting on his looks. Stephen Colbert addressed the internet’s interest in Mangione during a December 2024 episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

“This story started tragic, but then it very quickly [became] weird, because when authorities initially released security photos of the suspect, the internet reaction was swift and horny,” Colbert said. “You know [the] guy’s Italian because you could grate parmesan on those abs.”

While a movie adaptation of the event has not been announced, a documentary is already in the works from filmmaker Stephen Robert Morse, which will examine the fatal shooting of Thompson and its aftermath.

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“This case is complex and raises important questions about vigilantism, the devastating cost of a privatized healthcare system, and the inevitability of violence when peaceful change is seen as impossible,” Morse told Deadline in December. “My goal is to present a balanced exploration of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s assassination, showing all sides of the story while respecting the profound loss of life and its impact on everyone involved.”

Morse, a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, noted that he expects “the documentary will be memed,” adding that he hoped to “foster a deeper understanding” of the case through the varying perspectives of everyone involved, including Mangione.

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