Tony, Oscar and Emmy winner Al Pacino, soon to return to Broadway in The Merchant of Venice, will play Phil Spector, the record producer who worked with The Beatles and ended up in prison, in an upcoming film for HBO, according to The New York Times.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet will write and direct the film, which will be executive-produced by Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson.
Spector — who completed and put together the final Beatles album "Let It Be," and who produced many other hit singles, including "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" — is currently serving a jail sentence of 19 years to life for the murder of struggling actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.
Pacino holds two Tony Awards, for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel; an Oscar for "Scent of a Woman"; and two Emmys, for "You Don't Know Jack" and "Angels in America."
Mamet recently directed his latest play, Race, at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre. His 1977 Off-Broadway play, A Life in the Theatre, is currently making its Broadway debut at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize winner for Glengarry Glen Ross and an Oscar nominee for his screenplays for "Wag the Dog" and "The Verdict.
