Did you know? Brad Pitt wanted to work in Jeff Buckley biopic, but his mother decided to produce a documentary instead

Hollywood star Brad Pitt once considered starring in a biopic about Jeff Buckley, a gifted and promising musician who tragically died in 1997 at the age of 30. Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, revealed that the Snatch star, now 61, sought her permission to create the biopic after inviting her to his 2000 wedding to Jennifer Aniston – a request she swiftly granted.

“If there’s 20 people calling you, and Brad Pitt is one of them, who are you gonna pick to go see?” Guibert said in an interview with Variety, though she admitted she was initially hesitant about proceeding with the film. “‘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?” she recalled asking Pitt.

Guibert also revealed that she and Pitt stayed in touch over the years – even after she ultimately decided not to move forward with the biopic, opting instead to create a documentary to honour the life of her only son. Buckley is best remembered for his haunting cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and his iconic 1994 album Grace.

During the making of the documentary, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Guibert said Pitt offered his support, helping to preserve Buckley’s belongings and bring them into the digital sphere. Director Amy Berg, best known for her work on West of Memphis, also joined the project. Berg said that she aligned with Guibert’s vision for the film. “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. I just didn’t know how you could kind of replicate Jeff in that scripted sense,” Berg explained.

The new documentary will shed light on Buckley’s untimely death. Berg said that there was a misconception that “Jeff probably overdosed, which was far from the truth,” clarifying that his death was caused by drowning in a Memphis river. She also emphasised that Buckley’s legacy continues to transcend time. “One of the great things about Jeff Buckley is you discover him when you’re meant to discover him,” Berg said. “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. He’s definitely having another moment in pop culture history,” she added.