(June 21, 2010) SMUGGLER FILMS Penn Badgley will star as Jeff Buckley in 'Greetings from Tim Buckley.' Now in preproduction, the film will start shooting in August under the direction of Dan Algrant (“Naked in New York”). Algrant wrote the script with Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel.

'Greetings from Tim Buckley' follows the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s eminent 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church. Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he comes to understand the father who abandoned him.

Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time.

The 25-year-old Badgley has been acting more more than a decade and is best known for his role in the hit WB series “Gossip Girl.”

Said Badgley in a statement, “To play a man who was singularly gifted as an artist, greatly misunderstood and mythologized as a human being… It’s something very special and sacred. I’m going to give all I can to this project.”

Tim Buckley made nine studio albums before he died at 28 in 1977, after a drug overdose. Jeff Buckley died at 30 in 1997, in an accidental drowning.

Production in New York City is tentatively set for August.

An overview of the original concert in Brooklyn can be seen here.

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Screenplay - Dan Algrant, David Brendel and Emma Sheanshang

The film’s producers are Patrick Milling Smith of Smuggler Films, Fred Zollo of A-Z Prods. and John N. Hart of Second Chance Prods. The executive producers are Brian Carmody, Jill Footlick and Ben Limberg. The Director of Photography is Andrij Parekh, who also shot “Blue Valentine” and “Half Nelson.”

Smuggler Films is a home for creative talent committed to original storytelling across all mediums, with a fund that is being used to develop and produce film and theater content.