Oscar winner Al Pacino will play Phil Spector in an untitled HBO movie about the controversial record producer, reports the New York Times.
David Mamet will write and direct the project for HBO Films, while Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson will exec produce.
Levinson just directed Pacino in the HBO movie "You Don't Know Jack," in which the actor played Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
The 70-year-old Spector is currently serving a prison sentence of 19 years to life for the second-degree murder of Lana Clarkson.
Pacino is also 70, and the news comes two days before John Lennon would've turned 70. Spector is famous for producing some of Lennon's music, including mixing the unfinished tapes for the Beatles' final album, "Let It Be."
Pacino-as-Spector is intriguing casting for sure, and it's nice to see the actor realign his priorities and sign on for quality films (even if they're TV movies) rather than B-movie schlock like "88 Minutes" and "Righteous Kill."
The project is still in the very early stages of development, but the thought of Pacino in an afro wig has me setting my DVR a couple years early.
ICM represents Pacino, Mamet and Levinson.
