TIFF 2012 Adds Greetings From Tim Buckley, Spike Lee's Bad 25 Michael Jackson Doc, Skrillex Soundtrack

Posted on Aug 15th 2012 2:30PM by Sarah Kurchak
Comments

Getty | Getty

With less than a month to go before the 2012 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off, TIFF announced a number of additions to this year's roster of flicks yesterday, including the North American premiere of Spike Lee's Michael Jackson documentary and a Jeff Buckley biopic.

Bad 25 sees legendary filmmaker Spike Lee exploring both the creation of Michael Jackson's Bad album and the influence that the artist still has on others today. This celebration of the 25th anniversary of the album includes unseen footage -- some of which was shot by Jackson himself -- and interviews with artists like Mariah Carey and Sheryl Crow.

Greetings From Tim Buckley, which stars Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley, focuses on the days leading up to tragic cult hero Jeff Buckley's legendary performance at his father's tribute concert in 1991. While the film does not have the rights to the junior Buckley's music (another biopic, executive produced by Jeff's mom, Mary Guibert, is in the works), it does feature Anthrax's Frank Bello as underground punk legend Richard Hell and an acting turn by pop star Kate Nash, which should be enough to keep music lovers entertained.

On another musician-turned-actor note, Grammy-winning singer Macy Gray has a supporting role in the noir film The Paperboy (perhaps better known as "the movie where Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron do it"), which will make its North American debut at the festival.

And finally, TIFF is getting a little dose of wub wub, thanks to Spring Breakers, the Harmony Korine film that features a score by dubstep wunderkind Skrillex and stars James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and rapper Gucci Mane.

Bad 25, Greetings From Tim Buckley, The Paperboy and Spring Breakers join an impressive list of music-related flicks that have already been announced as part of this year's festival, including documentaries on Snoop Dogg (Reincarnated) and 30 Seconds to Mars (Artifact) as well as a musical staring written and directed by groundbreaking electroclash provocateur Peaches (Peaches Does Herself) and the latest film by horror director and musician Rob Zombie (The Lords of Salem).

TIFF 2012 runs from September 6-16.

Watch Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem" Video

Follow @Spinner on Twitter | Like Us on Facebook | Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Download Rob Zombie Songs | Buy Rob Zombie Albums