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
Kevin Spacey cast in bigger roles, including the malevolent office manager in the ensemble film "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992), one-half of a bickering Connecticut couple in the dark comedy film "The Ref" (1994), and a malicious Hollywood studio boss in the satire "Swimming with Sharks" (1995), gaining him positive notices by critics. His performance as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in Bryan Singer's 1995 neo-noir film "The Usual Suspects" won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Spacey appeared in the 1995 thriller film "Seven", making a sudden entrance late in the film as the serial killer John Doe after going