Jeff Buckley captivated an viewers of generations together with his transcendent voice and hovering guitar. After his premature passing in 1997 at age 30, he gained posthumous, cult-like standing. By no means one for the charts, his album Grace has stood the check of time and is listed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Biggest Albums of All Time. His dwell performances have been well-known for remodeling any area, no matter measurement, into an intimate listening expertise. And his unfinished demos are one thing followers have collected and traded in boards, treasured like gold.
It’s By no means Over, Jeff Buckley, a brand new documentary from director Amy Berg, is a heartfelt tribute to an artist adored by followers who ache for extra. On the prime of the trailer, Buckley tells a reporter that he needs his music to be remembered, as a result of that’s the one factor that will likely be round after he’s useless. However that’s not how reminiscence works, and the documentary ensures there’s area created to grieve the whole lot of his loss.
I sat down with Berg in Utah on the Sundance Movie Competition, the place the documentary debuted. We talked about her love of Buckley’s music and the passionate voicemails he left for his mom that Berg discovered on the thumb drive together with his archives.
Amy Berg on the Sundance Movie Competition Robyn Kanner
The Verge: Are you able to inform me concerning the first time you heard Jeff Buckley’s music?
Amy Berg: I used to be an adolescent working at SST Data. And from being within the trade, I heard a replica of Grace. It simply type of lower me open. It bought me proper within the coronary heart, and I fell in love with Jeff Buckley. I fell in love with “Lover, You Ought to’ve Come Over.” That was my track. And simply anytime I had type of a breakup or some onerous time, that was my go-to. It was like he might really feel my ache. He massaged my ache. So anyway, when he handed away, it destroyed me.
Sitting within the viewers at Sundance, it felt like an ending for some of us — Mary, his mom, and bandmates — however for others within the crowd, it felt like a starting. They have been studying about Jeff’s music. How did you go about putting that steadiness?
Due to what I used to be drawn to within the materials, I made a decision to finish together with his loss of life. There’s a world the place it might have began together with his loss of life. I imply, there’s a extremely fascinating story post-Jeff’s passing. However I believe that what I wished was for folks to get immersed and enveloped in his world via watching the movie after which discover their very own journey to his music and no matter spoke to them. As a result of it’s such a private expertise. Listening to his music is such a private expertise. So I simply type of wish to encourage, particularly individuals who have by no means heard his music earlier than, to go down that rabbit gap as a result of it’s enjoyable. It’s actually unimaginable.
Biopics are having a second of kinds — why’d Jeff’s story must be a documentary?
I used to be requested to do the biopic at one level, and so they gave me this thumb drive with all of the archives, and people voicemail messages simply lower my coronary heart out. I believed it was a documentary. Typically, as a documentarian, I type of take into consideration fictionalizing actual folks, and he simply looks like a troublesome one to fictionalize. However then take a look at Timothée Chalamet and A Full Unknown. That was probably the most unimaginable experiences of the 12 months cinematically. So who is aware of? Possibly. There’s nonetheless time. There’s nonetheless a film to be made.
Mary needed to belief me, and it took her a very long time as a result of I wished closing lower. And that’s like, I’m not going to do a puff piece or something, and I’m not going to be informed what to say and never say. So it was vital to me that she trusts me. And that took some time. It took at the least 10 years.
I think about balancing the romance of Jeff’s music and constructing a story wasn’t simple.
It was a extremely onerous edit, and steadiness is vital. I imply, it was troublesome as a result of so many individuals take a look at Jeff like he walks on water.
And so, there have been a number of interviews with sure topics as a result of I wished to get to the grit of it, too, and supply a glimpse of an actual one that struggled. And I believe that he was younger. He was very susceptible, uncooked, creative, inventive, and held his artwork to a really excessive normal. However he was additionally making an attempt to type stuff out, and that’s not at all times stunning.
The voicemails Jeff left his mom really feel notably startling.
“Your large, horny son.”
Did you ever hesitate to incorporate these conversations?
No. As a result of it felt like the true Jeff. There have been numerous totally different variations of Jeff, and I really feel just like the totally different voicemails, they illustrate that very nicely. And so they have been at all times a part of what I wished to make use of within the movie.
What have been your conversations with Mary like about together with them?
She simply mentioned, “Right here’s the archive. Do what you need with it. Inform the story nonetheless you wish to inform it.”
I’ve seen a few of the journalists saying that there are such a lot of limitations due to Mary, however she didn’t restrict me. I wished to inform a love story about Jeff and the ladies in his life, and that’s the story I informed.
It’s By no means Over, Jeff Buckley is in choose theaters August 8, 2025.
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