'Greetings From Tim Buckley' Trailer: Penn Badgley Channels Jeff Buckley (Video)

Daddy issues, guitars, long hair, pretty girls and flashbacks to the lonesome late 60's: Greetings From Tim Buckley has all the ingredients for a hip indie drama hit. But can its star shoulder the burden of playing a lost icon, who has only grown in mythic stature since his tragic death?

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Toronto 2012: 'Greetings From Tim Buckley' Director Says Penn Badgley Saved the Film (Video)

Daniel Algrant, Penn Badgley

Early returns, at least, say that yes, indeed, Penn Badgley has ably taken on the role and soul of indie rocker Jeff Buckley.

Film Review: Greetings From Tim Buckley

In this first biopic of the late singer (there is another, officially licensed one in the works), the Gossip Girl actor plays the tragic singer-songwriter before his rise to fame, when he was just a kid with a guitar and questions about a father he never knew. Luckily (or not), his dad was Tim Buckley, a famous musician in his own right, and the subject of a tribute concert that summons him from Los Angeles to the New York.

"It was daunting," Badgley told THR about taking on the role, during an interview in Toronto. "I was nervous as hell and I knew nobody thought I could do it. There are parts of Jeff I can’t emulate at all and wouldn’t want to try."

Above is the first trailer for the film, which co-stars Imogen Poots as Buckley's love interest, Allie, and Ben Rosenfield as Tim.