Beyond The Sea (film) - Development - Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

In March 1999, Dick Clark Productions announced their teaming with Dodd Darin on a biopic, with collaboration from producer Arthur Friedman, who had been developing both The Bobby Darin Story and Dreamer with Levinson at Warner Bros. since 1986. Shortly afterwards, Spacey was in discussions with Dodd Darin to star in the lead role. Spacey was able to acquire the film rights from Warner Bros. in early-2000. With the help of Dodd Darin, the actor also received exclusive music rights for no charge. With his Academy Award-winning performance in American Beauty (1999), Paramount Pictures became interested in distributing/financing Beyond the Sea. The deal fell apart when Paramount told Spacey was that he was too old for the role and instead wanted Leonardo DiCaprio. Beginning in October 2000, Spacey took vocal training lessons from Darin collaborator Roger Kellaway to give an accurate portrayal of the singer.

Spacey also kept close relations with the Darin family as a means to know he would treat the film "with respect". He sent letters to that effect to Sandra Dee and son Dodd. Steve Blauner (who is portrayed by John Goodman in the film) also served as a historical consultant. Dodd originally considered Spacey's plan to sing his father's material a sacrilege, but eventually fell into sync with Spacey's deeply empathetic approach to Darin's life.

Tom Epperson, who had struck up a friendship with Spacey while writing an early screenplay draft of The Shipping News, was hired to write a new draft for Beyond the Sea. Epperson's script included Darin's penchant for orgies after his divorce with Sandra Dee. Spacey, finding the Epperson script to be overtly dark and morbid, began to rewrite Beyond the Sea, incorporating info from the 1987 Lewis Colick script. Spacey acknowledged he portrayed Darin in an exaggeratedly sympathetic way, and decided not to centrally depict the darker side of Darin's life. "The other scripts made Bobby a rather unlikable figure," he explained. "I was not interested in making a conventional biopic, as you can see from the results. I was interested in making an exuberant celebration of an entertainer in a way that would be uplifting for an audience."

By making the biopic, Dodd Darin and Spacey acknowledged the similar career experiences between Darin and Spacey. "A lot of people doubted my dad's abilities, and Kevin's had doubters and naysayers," Dodd commented. "But both were willing to take risks, and both were very resilient. My dad would always try new things. You could never pin him down. Kevin's career is similar." David Evanier, author of Roman Candle: The Life of Bobby Darin (ISBN 978-1-59486-010-2), said "You can put Kevin's obsessiveness about getting the film made right up there with Bobby's obsessiveness. He's also the ideal person to play Bobby. He has an uncanny physical resemblance to him, and he also has Bobby's intensity and dark side. Also, there's the connection with his mother. Bobby's mother's belief in him sent him soaring. Kevin's mother wanted him to make this film. Kevin sees the film as an act of devotion to his mother."

"I think the movie is about mothers and sons," Spacey said, referring to Darin's relationship with his mother Polly and sister Nina. Spacey's mother, Kathleen Fowler, died of brain cancer just before production started. "I made the movie for all mothers, but especially for my mother. She introduced me to Bobby Darin. When she got very ill in 2002, I stopped everything and took care of her. We constantly played Bobby Darin records, and I'd let her listen to the tracks I was recording. I'm glad she passed knowing this was the movie I was going to make." After his award-winning performances in The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, Spacey "chose to move away from dark, sarcastic characters, and instead play damaged but good-hearted men" in films like Pay It Forward, K-PAX and The Shipping News. The actor was criticized for his career move; Spacey acknowledged the similarities when Darin integrated into folk music and protest songs.