Robert Pattinson Loses Jeff Buckley Role to Penn Badgley!

Why the Gossip guy got the gig over the Twi-hunk

By Ted Casablanca, Aly Weisman Jun 21, 2011 7:01 PMTags
Robert Pattinson, Jeff Buckley, Penn BadgleyRyan Pierse/Getty Images; Bob Berg/Getty Images; Carly Otness/BFAnyc.com

Sorry, Robert Pattinson, can't win ‘em all!

Despite having expressed interest in auditioning for the role of Jeff Buckley in the new film Greetings From Tim Buckley and even having taken preliminary meetings about the part, looks like our fave Twi-stud has been upset by Gossip guy, Penn Badgley.

So what does Badgley have to say about bagging the coveted part?

"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," Badgley said yesterday in a statement released through Smuggler Films.

Somewhere, R.Pattz is crying into the guitar he has been schlepping around the world and practicing on everyday. Ya win some, ya lose some, pal.

Don't feel too bad R.Pattz. You can cry on the shoulders of some of our other top picks such as James Franco, Jared Leto and James Marsden, who also lost out on the career-making role.

According to yesterday's release, here's what Pattz and the others will be missing out on: "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."

We smell Oscar nom! Don't you?

So now that the mystery of which young actor gets to play the legendary singer-songwriter is solved, the only question that remains is why did the film's coproducer, Orian Williams, tell the L.A. Times this week that "Penn isn't involved in the film at all?"

Were the producers just trying to throw off the press, or are they just seriously out of the loop?

We hope there isn't any behind-the-scenes trouble brewing, because after getting over the initial shock of the somewhat random casting announcement, we think Badgley is a fairly inspired choice for the Buckley role.

And turns out so does Patrick Milling Smith of Smuggler Films, who says, "In its purest form this is a father and son story, a rite of passage that is made possible by a romantic journey Jeff finds himself on...We had been searching well over a year for an actor that can come close to Jeff's spirit while also having the serious musical chops required to authentically tell this story. Penn's audition blew us away and we knew we found our star."

Check out the long-haired Lonely Boy crooning away on his guitar in this long lost clip from his past! Turns out the CW star may actually be a double threat.

Think Badgley is the right guy for the gig?