"BEYOND THE SEA" will be released by Lions Gate Films, the motion picture acquisition, production and distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment, on December 10 in New York and December 17 in Los Angeles. The film features a stellar supporting cast which includes Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Gretta Scacchi, Caroline Aaron and Peter Cincotti.
On the CD, Spacey traces the remarkable arc of Darin's career on 18 songs that show Darin's evolution from teen idol ("Splish Splash" and "Dream Lover") to nightclub sensation ("Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea") and folk artist ("If I Were a Carpenter" and "Simple Song of Freedom").
The actor and his subject share a musical connection: "Bobby got into music through his brother-in-law's big band record collection; I got into music through my dad's collection of big band and jazz 78s," recalls Spacey. "I was the kid standing in the living room singing into a hairbrush to my family. Bobby did the same thing except he was singing along to Frank Sinatra records and I was singing along to Bobby Darin records."
Not content to just lip-sync Darin's songs, Spacey spent years developing his voice and studying Darin's nightclub act before the cameras rolled. "I began working with Roger Kellaway in 1999 long before there was a script or money to make the movie. Kellaway worked with Bobby as a musical director and accompanist. After three years of playing at home and in clubs with Roger, he and I started working on a soundstage at Universal Studios where there was room for a band. We also set up a big screen next to some mirrors so I could watch any of Bobby's performance on screen while watching my performance in the mirrors."
In 2002, Spacey went into the Capitol Records studio with legendary record man Phil Ramone (Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra). Backed by a 16-piece orchestra, Spacey cut more than 20 tracks, which he later used as rehearsal tapes. "When I started working with him, no one -- including Kevin -- knew if he could sing Bobby's songs," notes Ramone. "When the filming began, Kevin had Bobby's nightclub act down. He wasn't an actor imitating a singer anymore; he'd developed Bobby's instincts as a singer and was playing off the audience and the musicians like Bobby would."
The recordings heard on the "BEYOND THE SEA" soundtrack were arranged with a 73-piece orchestra led by John Wilson and cut in Abbey Road's legendary Studio 2. Darin's son Dodd and manager, Steve Blaumer, provided all of Bobby's original arrangements and charts to re-create specific sessions and shows note-for-note.
Born with a rheumatic heart, an awareness of mortality fueled Darin's restlessness and his constant reinvention. After scoring a hit in 1958 with the seminal rocker "Splish Splash," Darin ignored everyone's advice and cut an album of standards -- one of them being "Mack the Knife," which earned him the Grammy for Best New Artist and Record of the Year in 1959.
Darin spent the early '60s playing nightclubs in Vegas and acting in movies (where he met his wife Sandra Dee), but nonetheless developed a strong social conscience. Before politically aware performers were in vogue, Darin marched for civil rights and recorded protest songs, which he incorporated into his Vegas shows. "In some ways, Bobby's career mirrors the changes people went through in the 1960s and early '70s," Spacey says. In 1973, Darin died during open-heart surgery, leaving behind an influential and diverse body of work.
"BEYOND THE SEA" Track Listing:
1. Hello Young Lovers
2. Once Upon A Time
3. Fabulous Places
4. Simple Song Of Freedom
5. Mack The Knife
6. The Curtain Falls
7. Beyond The Sea
8. By Myself/Lover Has Gone
9. Some Of These Days
10. Change
11. If I Were A Carpenter
12. Artificial Flowers
13. That's All
14. As Long As I'm Singing
15. Lazy River
16. Charade
17. Dream Lover
18. Splish Splash
Interested in purchasing the "Beyond the Sea" soundtrack? Compare prices here.
PRES RELEASE ISSUED BY RHINO RECORDS
