Carney singing from the soul in new Jeff Buckley biopic

Reeve Carney is to play Jeff Buckley, who drowned in 1997, in a planned biopic, says Richard Fitzpatrick

THERE are obvious reasons why Reeve Carney has been cast in Mystery White Boy, the ‘official’ biopic of the singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, who drowned in 1997. Both grew up in California; guitarist Buckley played in his school’s jazz band; Carney majored in studio jazz guitar; and Carney’s a dead ringer for Buckley.

But Carney makes a distinction between their personalities. “It seemed that he almost didn’t have protective mechanisms in place,” he says. “If you’re able to live your life without guarding yourself, without putting up walls, I think that makes for the most beautiful type of person, but the problem is it also makes you the most vulnerable type of person. That kind of explains Jeff. He didn’t have any walls up, for the most part. He kinda lived life where it would take him. That’s how we’re different — I’m a bit more protective of myself.”