Rob Ashford staging the musical numbers for the Bobby Darin biopic "Beyond the Sea" starring Kevin Spacey, Seth MacFarlane's "A Million Ways to Die in the West" and "Ted 2", and the Disney film "Cinderella" directed by Kenneth Branagh. For television, Ashford has choreographed tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Hermann, Meryl Streep, Barbara Cook, Shirley MacLaine, and Tom Hanks for The Kennedy Center Honors. He was the choreographer for the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007 and 2009, and also a co-producer for 2011, 2012 and 2014. He collaborated with filmmaker Baz Luhrmann on a production number featuring Hugh Jackman
Beyond the Sea (film) 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