Beyond the Sea (film) portray Bobby Darin, but the filmmakers believed the actor was too old. Around this time, Spacey coincidentally performed the cover version of Darin's "That Old Black Magic" for the soundtrack of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". The actor explained that after 1994, "at least three times a year, my manager would call over to Warner Bros. and say, 'Hey, what's happening with that Bobby Darin movie? You guys ever going to make it?'" With filming to originally begin in late 1997, pre-production for "Dreamer" was commencing, and Levinson began to discuss the film with various actors. This
Rebel in the Rye Luckinbill would produce the film along with Bruce Cohen, Jason Shuman, and Strong. On August 31, 2015, Nicholas Hoult was cast in the biopic to play Salinger, and the film was re-titled as "Rebel in the Rye". On January 19, 2016, Kevin Spacey joined the film to play Whit Burnett, a lecturer at Columbia University, editor of the "Story" magazine, and a mentor of the young Salinger. On February 12, 2016, Laura Dern, Brian d'Arcy James, and Hope Davis signed on to star in the film for unspecified roles. On March 9, 2016, Zoey Deutch joined the film to play