Brad Pitt originally had plans to play the late musician Jeff Buckley in a biopic many years ago.
Nearly two decades ago, the late musician’s mother Mary Guibert revealed that the Wolfs star, 61, asked her for permission to create the biopic.
She originally granted permission to him in 2000, shortly after he invited her to his 2000 wedding to Jennifer Aniston, but later changed her mind.
Earlier this week, she opened up about why she was hesitant make a biopic with Pitt as the star in a conversation with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival.
The late musician — whom Kesha once called her ‘spirit guide’ — died at the age of 30 back in 1997.
She told the outlet: ‘If there’s 20 people calling you, and Brad Pitt is one of them, who are you gonna pick to go see?’
She recalled asking the actor: ‘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?’
Guibert said she and Pitt stayed in touch over the years even after she decided to not go through with the biopic idea.
Rather than a biopic, she later decided to make a documentary about her only child, who is known for his cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and the 1994 album Grace.
Over the weekend, the new documentary titled It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which was executive produced by Pitt, made its world premiere at the film festival.
During the process of making the documentary, she said Pitt helped her preserve all of her late son’s belongings and bring them into a digital space.
Guibert said she also worked with director Amy Berg on the project about her late son’s story and legacy.
The West of Memphis filmmaker also spoke to the outlet about how she and Buckley’s mother shared the same vision for the 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 said.
‘I just didn’t know how you could kind of replicate Jeff in that scripted sense.’
Berg also said the documentary will shed light on Buckley’s death.
The legendary musician died at the age of 30 in 1997 when he drowned in a Memphis river.
The director said there was speculation that ‘Jeff probably overdosed, which was far from the truth.’
‘One of the great things about Jeff Buckley is you discover him when you’re meant to discover him,’ she said about his legacy.
‘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.’
