Is HBO Films' project about Phil Spector's murder trial going to be a musical? And if so, just how awesome will that be?
Famed songbird Bette Midler has signed on to star opposite Al Pacino in the Spector biopic, which is currently in development, HBO confirms to TheWrap. Midler will play Linda Kenney Baden, one of Spector's defense attorneys in his trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.
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Also on board for the film: "Arrested Development" actor Jeffrey Tambor, who will play defense attorney Bruce Cutler.
No word on which unlucky stylist will be tasked with the unenviable job of re-creating Spector's increasingly bizarre hairstyles that he sported during the trial.
Barry Levinson, who successfully teamed with Pacino on HBO's Emmy-winning Jack Kevorkian biopic "You Don't Know Jack," is attached to executive-produce. The project is being written and directed by David Mamet.
Pacino appears to be on a biopic tear of late; the "Dog Day Afternoon" actor is also attached to play Gambino crime family underboss Neil Dellacroce in the upcoming mobster flick "Gotti: Three Generations" (interestingly, Cutler also defended John Gotti) and is on board to play French artist Henri Matisse in the upcoming "Masterpiece."