Beyond the Sea (film) intended to produce and direct a biopic based on the life of Bobby Darin with funding from his own production company, Baltimore Pictures. With writer Lewis Colick, Levinson pitched the idea to Warner Bros. Pictures, who agreed to co-finance "The Bobby Darin Story" and cover distribution duties. Producer Arthur Friedman, a fan of Darin's work, began to laboriously negotiate for crucial music licensing rights with Darin's ex-wife, Sandra Dee; his son, Dodd; and former manager Steve Blauner. Colick wrote the first draft in 1987 before Warner Bros. and Levinson commissioned rewrites from Paul Attanasio and Paul Schrader. Their scripts, which
Beyond the Sea (film) show, complete with a gospel choir, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, and against all odds it is a huge success. But his triumph is short-lived. Suffering from blood poisoning following surgery to repair his mechanical heart valve, Darin is rushed to the hospital, where he dies at the age of thirty-seven. Following his death, he meets the younger counterpart of himself once again, and the two duet with "As Long As I'm Singing." Cathy Moriarty-Gentile and Vanessa Redgrave were originally cast in "Beyond the Sea", but both actresses dropped out for unspecified reasons. Beginning in 1986, Barry Levinson