Making a movie about Jeff Buckley is, in some way, a suicide mission. The late indie singer has a passionate following, and many of the fans are quite protective.
You’d be safer tackling a biopic about the pope.
Regardless of the risks, director Dan Algrant is taking the leap with Friday’s “Greetings From Tim Buckley,” a part-true, part-fictionalized story about a pre-fame Jeff Buckley who travels to Brooklyn in 1991 to perform at a tribute concert honoring his late father, folk singer Tim Buckley.
Further stirring the pot is Algrant’s choice to play Jeff, who drowned in 1997 after releasing a single album. Many auditioned, but the director chose Penn Badgley, the 26-year-old actor best known for his role on “Gossip Girl.” When the casting was announced, many Buckley purists burned up the Internet with complaints.
“I’m aware that there are plenty of people who are like, ‘Are you f – – king kidding me?’ ” Badgley says.
“Virtually no one had any reason to think that I’d be a good person to play him. I understand that, and I took it at face value, but I put that out of my head.”
“There were all sorts of repercussions to casting him, and [those involved with the film] began to get nervous,” adds Algrant, who had no idea Badgley was on “Gossip Girl” at the time. “They were skeptical of what the response would be. One day, they’d go, ‘Well, this is great. He has a fan base.’ Then the next day, the same person would go, ‘Well, this is terrible. He has a fan base.’ It’s sort of amusing.”
Badgley is determined to prove the doubters wrong, and he’ll do it by deploying skills many CW viewers probably didn’t know he had: The actor has been singing most of his life, and he began playing guitar when he was about 14.
“I didn’t know a lot of musical people, so it was a very solitary pursuit,” he says. “I used to play a lot of Jimi Hendrix as a teenager. I play with my thumb a lot, which not a lot of guitarists do. That’s also something Jeff did.”
The performances in the film (with songs by Tim Buckley, not Jeff) were recorded live. Badgley spent a month training with vocal and music coaches, preparing to film the re-creation of the concert scene, which was shot at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn — the same location as the 1991 Buckley show.
No one will argue that Badgley can’t carry a tune, but it was the actor’s fearlessness that landed him the role, not necessarily his pipes. Of all the audition tapes Algrant received, Badgley was the only one who decided to tackle a scene that takes place in a Village record shop. While browsing with potential girlfriend Allie (Imogen Poots), Buckley suddenly launches into an a capella version of “Led Zeppelin III” so energetic it leaves him crumpled on the ground.
“When I read that scene, I thought it was so interesting and different,” Badgley says. “All the script said was, ‘Jeff performs a 60-second sonic impression of the record. Collapses on the floor. It is beautiful.’ ”
“Filming the scene was the first time I’d seen him do it,” Poots says. “It really was mind-blowing. If you’re going to do something like that, you have to commit to it.”
Badgley is also determined to move away from the TV show that made him famous. He says he’s done with television and that this film is a good stop on the way to broadening his range as an actor.
Algrant agrees: “I think it’s very important for an actor to do that. You do something for five years, and you can find yourself in a rut. I think this is his declaration.”
Now all that remains is to see how viewers will react to Badgley’s role and the film that tackles such a holy topic to some. (Incidentally, at least two other Buckley movies are in various forms of production, including one that’s to star “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” lead Reeve Carney.) Poots is undaunted.
“People will never be pleased, and that’s important,” she says. “That’s something wonderful about film. You introduce your mind to other ideas and performances.”
reed.tucker@nypost.com