Here are some photos of Penn Badgley at the Tribeca Film Festival two days ago. I skimmed these pics yesterday to see if Penn’s girlfriend Zoe Kravitz was there, but she was not (boo). Just so you know, I’m not expecting many people to be interested in it, but I love this story. Penn was at Tribeca with Imogen Poots, because they costar in the soon-to-be-released Greetings From Tim Buckley. This is not the long-awaited, long-gestating Jeff Buckley bio-pic (which is currently be called Mystery White Boy), but Penn IS playing the late Jeff Buckley. This film is about Jeff Buckley’s debut as an artist. Unfortunately, Greetings From Tim Buckley will not feature any songs by Jeff Buckley (the film didn’t get permission from his estate).
I’ll admit, I don’t really think much of Penn. I never watched Gossip Girl, so at least I don’t have THAT image of him. The only thing I’ve seen him in was Easy A, where he was surprisingly hot and he has a really nice voice. Once he got with Zoe Kravitz, I’ll admit that I gave him a second look. Zoe rebounded onto to Penn right after (or perhaps overlapping with) Michael Fassbender. At first I thought… “Girl, you go from Fassbender to a Gossip Girl?” But Penn and Zoe kind of work, and she ended up giving him a surprising amount of street-cred. Plus, I like how they’re not shoving their love in our faces. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised when Penn opened up about Zoe in a recent interview with Movieline – you can read the full piece here, and here’s the part about Zoe:
Movieline: The first time you and I talked, you said that falling in love with Zoe Kravitz at the time you were playing Buckley helped you really put yourself out there for the part. How so?
Penn: At that time I was falling madly in love in a way that was changing me and opening me up. And it was an integral part of playing Jeff. Technically, I could probably play guitar and sing better now because I have a year of consistent experience under my belt, but, at the time, I was kind of going through what Jeff was going through emotionally in the movie in the sense that the worlds of music and love and women and art were opening up to me. Honestly I needed it. It was like this cosmic intervention where, if you’re going to play somebody like Jeff you’ve got to at least be in love, you know?
The universe answered you.
Yeah, very much. And being in love, real, true, earth-shattering love – even though it sounds hyperbolic I really was going through it — helped me be as good as I could be.
I suspect this role will lead to more film offers for you. After so many years in television, are you now concentrating on movie roles?
For me, this movie is a beautiful step forward. Gossip Girl has given me everything that I have now. It gave me the opportunity to live in New York and to be in a position to get this role. It also put me in New York City so I could meet Zoe. And it’s put me in a place where I haven’t had to do a bunch of other shit just to make money. I’m super grateful for it, but this movie has come at the right time to take a step forward. I have been working in television for 13 years now, and you know, I’m just done with it. I have nothing against television, but I’m done.
Um, how cute is he? This is how dudes should always talk about their girlfriends!!! I’ll admit that I’m crushing on him a little bit – Penn’s not lamenting all of the tail he’s missing or he’s not on some kind of “I won’t talk about that!” power-trip. He talks about how she’s changed him for the better and how much he loves her… sigh. Now I don’t want them to ever split up.
Hey, remember when he was with Blake Lively and it seemed like she was always fooling around? Yeah. This is so much better. I would love it if Penn had a big breakout.
Zoe and Penn in 2012
Photos courtesy of WENN, FameFlynet
If the film got no permission from the estate, I do not have high hopes for it.
The movie takes place 3 years before Jeff’s debut album was released, so the lack of his songs is understandable, but my hopes were already shattered when I found out the title is Greetings From Tim Buckley and that they will focus on that relationship. It was part of his life and it was unavoidable but Jeff was always upset or angry when interviewers were comparing him to his father or even briefly mentioning him in the father-son relationship context. Tim Buckley was an amazing musician and Jeff even covered his songs, what will be showed in the movie and voiced his appreciation for Tim-the musician (the same way as he would appreciate other great musicians who were total strangers to him), but he was also a crappy, absent father and bringing him up all the time was difficult for Jeff. When I first found out about the movie, I hoped that this will be a tribute, a nice way to celebrate Jeff’s life and his music but putting Tim Buckley’s name in the title and chosing this part of his biography over his later journey as a succesful independent musician is somehow disrespectful, knowing how Jeff himself would react if he was alive.
Wow. That makes me sad. And I was already sad on this topic. So that must’ve been heavy.
There were two reasons for them to choose to focus on this part of Jeff’s life
1. They did not have the rights to Jeff’s music, thy only had the rights to tim’s
2. They wanted to focus on Jeff coming into his own as a musician instead of romanticizing his life and exploiting the tragedy of his early death
Lastly, this is not a Jeff bio-pic. The makers have said so himself. It is a film about Jff and Tim. It’s called “Greetings from Tim Buckley” because that was the name of the original concert Jeff played at. And it stresses on what a terrible father Tim was, and how Jeff was able to see past that a little and understand him enough to let go of that shadow and become the artist he was.
I know most peope commenting are Jeff fans who feel that the film should have focused on Jeff alone since it’s been called a biopic by the media, but it’s not. Tim has fans too. He had a very tragic childhood and died at 28. That’s also a story that deserves to be told.
I thought the film was beautiful and Penn Badgley was so very perfect as Jeff. What a voice that kid has.
Isn’t there another movie about Jeff in the works, and that’s why they couldn’t use his songs?
I understand what you are saying Polly and actually I am one of Tim’s fans. I am a big fan of both Jeff’s and Tim’s music, but I don’t like the way the media link them, clearly against Jeff’s will. Tim didn’t want to know his son, Jeff struggled with these comparisons his whole life and despised how he was never introduced just with his name but always as Jeff Buckley, the son of Tim Buckley (there are youtube videos to prove it) and now, because of this movie, this link between them will be even stronger in people’s minds. Jeff’s beginnings as a musician weren’t just another story of a careless celebrity child who got famous due to nepotism but to those who aren’t familiar with the details, “Jeff Buckley, the son of Tim Buckley” make it sound like he was. I am sure the movie explains it, but how many people will watch it? Most will just hear that there is a Jeff Buckley biopic with Tim’s name in the title (because as you mentioned, it is promoted that way in the media) and that will do the job. I would gladly watch the biopic about Tim and one about Jeff, but I just can’t bring myself to like the idea of making one about both of them and exploit their complicated relationship even more. I will watch it anyway but I doubt I will be able to truly enjoy it.
meh, I have no feelings about him either way (never watched GG) so I’ll watch it with an open mind. Without the songs though, I dunno.. I was listening to Buckley last night, so good.
I just love how gushy and romantic he is! Thought I also liked him with Blake Lively, and they made a bit more sense than Blake & RR.
Fun fact: in 7 years of living in Manhattan I had only, like, 3 celeb sightings and he was one of them, when I nearly body-slammed into him on the corner of 19th & Broadway and had to talk myself down from running after him in a full-on stalker mode. Yeah, BIG Gossip Girl fan…
I spent about 5 minutes following a guy round Kings Cross because I was convinced it was Ed Westwick, I was wrong, he was freaked out. The end.
This is totally shameful but the person I DID follow once was Ivanka Trump, preggers, power-walking thru Central Park with her hubs. And I tried to play it cool but was SO obvious.
Another fun fact: GG’s courtyard high school scenes were filmed at my church (a brick colonial very non-churchy building on 93rd), and I wanted to find some church-related business to show up there during the filming. But didnt. But should have. (Chuck&Blair 4EVA)
haha, you just made my morning.
Ok why exactly did you feel the need to follow Ivanka?
That’s actually really cool. You should have just casually just turned up regardless, if you’d done it enough they would have either slapped you with a restraining order or been forced to give you a recurring back ground part.
I’m still mourning Serena and Nate, Serena and Dan share a sibling therefore it’s GROSS.
@Marie –
Glad to be of service 🙂 With which part?
@Kiki –
Ok this is really sad, but that was bc I was on my 6th year of living in Manhattan and everyone who had visited NYC for like a weekend had a cool ‘run in with celeb’ story, and I wanted to be one of the cool kids! (yes, pathetic, I know).
Funny enough, all of my celeb sightings (the 3rd one was having drinks at the Palace Hotel next to Andrew Lloyd Webber not having a clue it was him till my friend enlightened me an hour later) happened within my last 18 months in NYC. If only I stayed…
Also, where was your helpful advice 7 years ago??? 🙂
I just saw his yesterday in Williamsburg! He’s so cute 🙂
That was adorable.
Super cute!! I loved GG & I hope that this really helps Penn’s career. Plus I do love him & Zoe together too. Thanks for this post!!
I do not understand the scarf with the sweater look. At all. Kills any attraction I might have towards him.
Same here. It makes him look a little pretentious.
LOL to both if you. I agree 100% which is shy I am heading over to read the Michelle Rodriguez article on manly men. I am not into metro sexual guys either.
Welll that must be my problem. I’m from the south, so I’ll take a guy in jeans and a baseball hat anyday over that 😉
Purely for the eye candy I miss GG quite a bit.
YES! Nate Archibald..yummy..and Chuck Bass’ ego..sweet Lonely Boy Humphries..ahhh. Thank God for Netflix!!
Aw he always seemed like a nice guy and truthfully i identified with Dan more than anyone on GG. I am wrong side of the tracks private school kid myself. But this interview is AWESOME! Its so nice to hear an actor give props to their beginnings and be grateful even if its a cheesy CW show. Unlike Mrs. Timberlake or Rooney Mara who belittle what propelled their careers this guy seems to recognize just how fortunate he is to be a working actor. Looking forward to seeing his movie!
Don’t give him too much credit, he had belittled his part on GG before.
Well maybe he thought it was super lame too that Dan ended up being Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars never showed up.
That is really cute! I think he is so handsome and i loved the way he kind of became a little hipster after he fell in love with Zoe. He was sort of bland and boring when he dated Blake Lively.
Zoe Kravitz has great style i really like her. She usually has excellent taste in men there was Fassy and Ben Foster. And her bff is Jennifer Lawrence. Although i didnt understand her attraction to Penn i have to admit they are very cute together. Its obvious when you see their pictures together that he adores her.
That was sweet. I always thought he was cute.
Thats adorable. He was good in that film about the wall street crash he is the most talented of the GG guys.
Totally yum.
Adore his boho style!!!
He is smart and thoughtful. I really like how he doesn’t dog his TV roots.
I read that he’s really great in this movie, I think he will be the break out star of GG, not Blake.
They are such a cute couple.
http://marieclaire.media.ipcdigital.co.uk/11116/000071184/b431_orh100000w427/ZoeKravitzPenn-Badgley.jpg
Aww and he looks so genuinely happy and relaxed!
Maybe its the part of me that had to wake up at 4am for work saying this, but pffft earth shattering love. Call the press when theyre sti together in 2 years.
They’re getting there…if they’re not already. I believe their first “we’re beginning to date” sightings began late summer of 2011
Not to be together for two years, but to be together IN two years. Doubtful, but if they are i’ll eat my hat!
“It also put me in New York City so I could meet Zoe”
Wow he thanks Gossip Girl for putting him in new york so he could meet his girlfriend , This guy is so in love. best of luck to them!!
The only thing I’ve seen him in is Margin Call and I found him rather good in that. Very good film and solid performances from all the cast. He may not be one of my must see but I’m ready to check his future appearances if the script looks good.
Margin Call was a great intelligent movie! It didnt get as much mainstream attention that it should have.
I remember when it seemed like Zoe K. was fooling around on him with Fassy. Blake and Penn were together for three years. Fans used to see them all over NYC, looking sweet together. Not bad for a couple of college-age people. If this was Blake talking about him, or any love, in relation to promoting a movie, she’d probably be accused of pumping out her relationship by some. Glad that wasn’t the case here. Those are sweet words, and were I Zoe I’d feel honoured. Also nice for Zoe that she’s seen as having ‘street cred’ instead of being viewed as a product of nepotism.
He’s been more open about his feelings for GG in the past (see Vulture last year, where he also talks about playing Buckley: http://www.vulture.com/2012/09/penn-badgley-on-jeff-buckley-and-gossip-girl.html). Good to see he has it in perspective.
‘Greetings’ comes out May 3 on VOD. I’ve heard the movie is not that good, but worth seeing for Penn’s excellent performance.
I heard the same. The film isn’t that great but he’s good – especially his singing. He’s a very good musician.
I’ve never been too much into GG but I’ve always liked him! He seems really nice, talented and smart. I hope he has a good and long career!! as for Zoe, she wasn’t w/ him because she’s currently filming the movie adaptation of the Divergent trilogy, by Veronica Roth, in Chicago 🙂
He sounds like a man in love.
I liked Easy A – but he was so badly miscast in it. He looked like he was about 30 years old instead of a high school student – the effect creeped me out.
He needs a good Wall Street type of role – I want to see him in suits.
He is such a sweetheart I can ALMOST forgive the scarf.
I think Zoe’s already started filming the next X-Men movie so that’s why she’s not there. That also means she’s hanging around Fassy again. Remember when there was that weird (second?) overlap when we couldn’t figure out if she was still with Penn or if she’d gone back to Fassy? Well, considering how loved up Penn appears to be, I hope that doesn’t happen again.
Zoe’s not in the next X-men movie.
Zoe’s not in the new X-Men movie. This has been widely reported.
Ok, sorry, I guess it’s Divergent she’s filming right now then?
I am sorry there is just something about this guy that just comes off as phony and douchey. This dude is just trying to get a movie career going and I am pretty sure that his managment is telling him that people think that he is a ungrateful douchbag for publicly bashing his character on show that is giving him these opportunties. So all of this earth shattering love that he is proclaiming to have for Zoe Kravitz is his attempt to soften his reputation. I can’t wait until Zoe sees the light and dump him and find a real MAN who will come to her being his TRUE SELF and not some wannabe (hipster) convert. I hate phonies. PS. If his love is so earth shattering, that isn’t stopping her from taking projects and leaving him Brooklyn, at least she isn’t that stupid.
I think it’s still possible to have earth shattering love and concentrate on your career. People, famous and non-famous, do it every day. And I trust that after almost two years with Penn, Zoe is smart enough to know if she is with someone who truly loves her. Just because you don’t like his wording, doesn’t make it false. Zoe is still with him and that says more than anything else.
Very smart comment. Thank you.
why would she not work because she is in love? what a ridiculous thing to say. and he probably is crazy in love for the first time and thats cute dont be such a cynic. smh
I love this guy- what an amazing way to express how you feel about your girl!
Crossing my fingers for more Penn stories in the future (though he seemed to phone-in the acting on GG at the end, as everyone did).