Beyond the Sea (film) included Johnny Depp as Bobby Darin, Drew Barrymore as Sandra Dee, Bette Midler as Darin's birth mother Nina and Bruno Kirby as Nina's husband/Darin's right-hand man, Charlie Mafia. Levinson eventually vacated the director's position in favor of "Liberty Heights" (1999); because he was unable to get "Dreamer" into production, Warner Bros. lost the music licensing rights, which reverted to the Darin estate. 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
Kevin Spacey of Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Broadway hit "Lost in Yonkers". Spacey's father was unconvinced that Spacey could make a career for himself as an actor, and did not change his mind until Spacey became well-known. Some of Spacey's early roles include a widowed, eccentric millionaire on "L.A. Law", the television miniseries "The Murder of Mary Phagan" (1988), opposite Lemmon, and the comedy "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" (1989). He earned a fan base after playing the criminally insane arms dealer Mel Profitt on the television series "Wiseguy". He quickly developed a reputation as a character actor, and was