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
Beyond the Sea (film) but it was a draft based on earlier material based on my own screenplays," Spacey commented. Meek said he was hired by producer Harvey Friedman, a friend who stood up at his wedding and helped connect him with Spacey, with whom he claims to have produced 12 drafts, including one that was reported by "Variety" to have received a greenlight from MGM in early 2003. "He bought my material and then acted like I didn't exist," Meek explained. "I'm not saying I'm Rembrandt, but it's like someone buying a painting and then scratching the name off of it and putting