Al Pacino to portray Phil Spector in Mamet's HBO film

Actor Al Pacino will portray record producer Phil Spector in a film currently being written by writer/director David Mamet (
The Spanish Prisoner,
Glengarry Glenn Ross) for HBO Films.

Pacino won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in HBO's You Don't Know Jack, about the physician convicted for assisted suicide. Pacino's agent said, "He just saw a very interesting character to play, and he likes the sensibility of David [Mamet] and Barry [Levinson]," reported by the New York Times.

Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson ( Diner, Rain Man, Bugsy) will produce the film. He also produced and directed the film Jack.

It was also announced yesterday that HBO will adapt the bestselling Wall Street exposé book Too Big To Fail, about the 2008 financial crisis, with an all-star cast.

Paul Giamatti ( Sideways) will play US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Billy Crudup ( Eat Pray Love) will appear as Timothy Geithner, US Secretary of the Treasury. The line-up also includes James Woods, Ed Asner, Tony Shalhoub, William Hurt, and Cynthia Nixon ( Sex and the City). Curtis Hanson ( LA Confidential) will direct.

RC