One of the standout films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival is the musical drama GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY, a study of the legendary folk singer and his son Jeff Buckley.
We sat down with Imogen Poots, whose character Allie helps Jeff (Penn Badgley) cope with the unresolved issues he still harbors towards his father’s absence from his childhood. Hear what she had to say about the film below, as well as the upcoming NEED FOR SPEED film with Aaron Paul.
Also be sure to check out our review of GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY right here!
So are you a big Jeff Buckley/Tim Buckley fan?
Yeah, for sure. I’m obviously a big Jeff Buckley fan. Tim Buckley I wasn’t so aware of. It’s amazing when you have that bunch of musicians like Karen Dalton too. I’m a really big fan of people Tim Buckley was associating with at that time.
You actually sing in the movie as well. How intimidating was that?
OH YEAH! That was kind of on a whim. We really didn’t give it that much thought beforehand and then Dan the director was like, what can we do that would be authentic enough and have gravitas to bring Jeff Buckley back to do this tribute concert and she has to do something pretty vulnerable.’
You and Penn Badgley have great on-screen chemistry. What was it like working with him and did you know each other prior to shooting?
No! I’d never seen his show or anything. No, I’ve never watched GOSSIP GIRL. They were asking him today, you know like he IS GOSSIP GIRL. I was like, ‘are you a transsexual on the show?” (laughs) But no, I think in terms of chemistry with someone it’s really electric. I mean, you can’t really understand where it’s coming from. There’s some people who you’ll have ZERO chemistry with but Penn and I just really got along and we were both really excited to do the film. I remember one specific scene when we leave the record store and we start running, and he turned to me and said ‘God it’s so good to move’, and I kind of knew what he meant because you have so much space in this city. Dan (Algrant) was always running around with the camera and it was quite organic.
With the bulk of the film taking place in New York, did you spend a lot of time here?
Yea I spent a lot of time in New York beforehand and I think this was the first time I found a really familiar place to be. It’s also funny, I find a lot of American writers, whether they’re contemporary or not, there’s a certain romantic idea that you can get from this writing. You can find it anywhere in America. Even if it’s Steinbeck or Faulkner, you can go out and find these landscapes and it’s still right there. In New York too, despite the fact that it’s kind of progressing more and more, the history is still RIGHT THERE.
This being a musical film, what type of music do you listen to?
I love Townes Van Zandt a lot and Jackson C. Frank. I love a lot of kind of old folk music, for sure. I suppose my favorite bands are The Smiths and New Order, I like them a lot. Music’s something very important to me because I think it can be passed down to you by parents, or family and through lovers (laughs) It’s really something you can find ownership with in an amusing way, and I think that’s sort of why I’m drawn to a lot of country and western music, which is slightly tragic! But it’s great – it takes you to another place completely.
Tell us a little about your upcoming projects.
Yea, right now I’m doing a film called NEED FOR SPEED. It’s about race cars, and it’s kind of hilarious that I’m in this film. Aaron Paul is in the film yea, and he’s an extraordinary actor. As well as Dominic Cooper who is terrific. I think they just cast us three oddballs. It’ll be fun, it’s based on a videogame. It’s funny, I actually don’t even have a driver’s license!
