Reeve Carney, who is starring as Peter Parker in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, will play Jeff Buckley in a much-anticipated biopic of the singer-songwriter.

According to NME.com, Carney beat Twilight star Robert Pattinson and Milk star James Franco to the prestigious role of the singer, who died at just 30 years of age.

The film’s executive producer is Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert, who said: “We are over the moon that Reeve has agreed to take on this challenging role. He’s been getting ready for this all his life. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he looks so much like Jeff.”

Filming is scheduled to begin in 2012.