I've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (UPDATE)

UPDATE: On July 14, Bette Midler dropped out of the project citing a back injury. Here's a look at Helen Mirren as she stepped into the role:



When I saw the sign on Seventh Avenue South that they would be filming a Phil Spector film, it was a bit of a shock to me. I'm a HUGE fan of his music, but hadn't heard anything about a movie being made about him. Twenty years ago, I read that Tom Cruise had wanted to play the twisted musical genius, but I thought the idea was ludicrous. Little did we know in Cruise's heartthrob heyday that the pint-sized megastar really was as weird as the man who invented the Wall of Sound. (Katie, meet Ronnie. Ronnie, meet Katie.)

Now I come to find out another diminutive egomaniac, Al Pacino, will indeed play Spector in a film for HBO -- from Jack Kevorkian to this! -- in what must focus on his later years as Bette Midler appears to be playing his defense lawyer, Linda Kenney-Baden, who has become even more infamous for representing -- and then dumping -- Casey Anthony.

Pacino and Midler? I'd be completely on-board if not for the fact that the creative force behind the picture is David Mamet, who has gone on the record as saying Spector was innocent of murdering Lana Clarkson (yes, just like Casey Anthony is innocent of killing daughter Caylee) and had been "railroaded" by the system. Clarkson's friends and family are understandably uncomfortable with this arrangement and have already begun a lobbying effort to make sure the famed writer/director doesn't rewrite history -- a history that includes countless assaults on women and a conviction of murder in the second degree.