Director Amy Berg Talks Jeff Buckley's Similarities to Janis Joplin and Almost Getting Jimmy Page
"He's kind of a like a fine wine," Berg says about examining Buckley for her latest film
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There’s a sense of possibility that permeates every frame of Amy Berg’s documentary, “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley.” The magic of being young, of being a musician on the brink, aided by the enthusiasm of Buckley himself. So when sitting down to talk to Berg, my second time interviewing her, the first thing she notices is I’m wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt, Buckley’s favorite band. It’s yet another moment of magic, enhanced by talking about a documentary that reminds me not only why I’ve come to love Buckley, but why I love music itself.
But for Berg, she resisted doing a documentary on Buckley for years. “It's more like what enticed me to walk away from it,” Berg tells The Film Maven. There wasn’t anything about Buckley she didn’t find fascinating, so much so that she’d been trying for years to get the rights to tell his story. “He had a really interesting, short life that deserves a look,” she says. “His music is timeless and his story is timeless.” Unlike her previous documentary subject, Janis Joplin, there was also a desire to correct the narrative. Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River in 1997, with many people assuming, to this day, that he overdosed. So for Berg, the desire was to finally put that story to rest.
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Berg does seem commonalities between Buckley and Joplin, the subject of her 2015 documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue. “They were both groundbreakers,” she says. Buckley’s specific singing style was unlike anything currently being heard in the midst of the Seattle grunge scene, akin to Joplin’s raspy performances. They also had fractured family dynamics, with Buckley having an estranged relationship from his father. She also saw both features as depicting unknown love stories, in Buckley’s case his deep love for his mother, Mary. “The answering machine messages were so emotional,” Berg says. “I would cry when I listened to them the first couple times. I just felt that the mother/son relationship was so important and formative and complicated so I had to go after that narrative.” But that demanded Berg have final cut over the project, leading to a delicate dance between herself and Buckley’s mother to gain trust in the director’s concept.
What’s amazing, and specific to Berg’s documentary, is the emphasis on time and place. Using illustration and archival footage, there’s a unique feeling watching It’s Never Over that reminds you of the sense of the present that came from the 1990s. Audiences weren’t glued to their phones and Berg understands that focus. “We leaned into the ‘90s videos,” says Berg. “We had his journals and his drawings, his voice, all the film archives. We wanted to create something that was dynamic. Water was a big theme, and Led Zeppelin. Those two themes drove the narrative. In earlier cuts it was all over the place but it found its continuity and got simplified as time went on.”
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Of course, bringing it back to Led Zeppelin, one of the big almost moments for Berg was getting Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to talk about the young singer. “He had said yes, but he just couldn't line up a date for us. So that was a bummer,” she says.
What sticks out to Berg, though, is the excitement to see Buckley’s story told. It reminds her of record store release parties of the past. “The waiting was the hardest part,” she says. “There hasn't been something for them to go and embody this excitement about Jeff Buckley.” So much so that when the film’s trailer dropped it got five million hits. “He's kind of like a fine wine,” she says. “It seems to have reemerged on the charts recently. The more people that discover him, the more people are interested in him.” The director recounts how, while making the feature, Buckley’s “Lover, You Should Come Over” became a hit on TikTok with 400 million follows. Berg wonders what Buckley would have thought of that success. “He might have felt like that takes away his artistic control, [his] integrity.” Regardless, it opens up a whole new generation in discovering Jeff Buckley’s music, and Berg’s feature.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is in theaters now.
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