0825 beyond the sea

A friend borrowed some DVDs and returned them a couple of days ago. One of them was “Beyond The Sea”, a 2004 biopic of the life of Bobby Darin, played by Kevin Spacey. Spacey also directed the film.

It had been a few years since I last saw it, so I watched it again, with the commentary turned on. Although the film was set in locations like Brooklyn (New York), Hollywood (California), and Las Vegas (Nevada), it was shot entirely in Berlin, Germany.

One of the comments said that because the film dealt with Darin’s film career in the 1950s, soundstages were needed that fit the period. Hollywood soundstages could’ve been used, but they’ve been renovated so much that the cost to redress them was exorbitant. But the soundstages in Berlin were built in the 1940s and haven’t changed since.

As for other locations, many American architectural features had European origins. So it was easy to make use of many sites in Berlin. There’s a scene that supposedly takes place in Darin’s backyard, complete with a pool. That location is the Jordanian embassy in Berlin.

The outdoors scenes looked like a nice summer day. But the film was made in January. It’s really cold in Berlin in January. One scene had a rowboat in a lake. The commentary said that they had to break apart the ice before shooting.

There’s also a part of the film that looks like it was shot on the California coast, presumably Big Sur. The commentary said that it was actually Great Britain.

In preparing for the film, the producers did a lot of research. One day, they met an avid fan of Bobby Darin. She collected his records and other memorabilia. She was thrilled that a movie was being made of Darin’s life.

The producers asked if it was appropriate that Darin was being portrayed by Kevin Spacey. She responded, “Kevin who?”