characters, and instead play damaged but good-hearted men" in films like Pay It Forward, K-PAX and The Shipping News. The actor was criticized for his career move; Spacey acknowledged the similarities when Darin integrated folk music and protest songs. Production In February 2003, it was announced that production for Beyond the Sea was becoming fast tracked with Spacey as lead actor, co-writer, producer and director, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) agreed to cover distribution duties in North America. In August, with principal photography to begin in just weeks, MGM dropped out as distributor and main financier over scheduling conflicts. To accumulate financing of the film's $25 million budget, which came from foreign production companies, Spacey performed six songs at the November 2003 American Film Market. Lions Gate Entertainment quickly picked up the distribution duties, and Spacey found enough investors from England and Germany to continue moving forward on production. In addition, Spacey declined to be paid for his work as actor, director, co-writer, and producer on Beyond the Sea. A portion of the $25 million budget came from his own Trigger Street Productions. Producer Arthur Friedman, who had shepherded the biopic since 1987, commented that he and Spacey experienced creative differences during pre-production. Friedman remarked that he was not involved with Beyond the Sea once production began in Germany. Filming was originally set to begin in June 2003 before it was pushed to November 7, 2003, lasting until late January 2004. Eighty percent of Beyond the Sea was shot using sound stages at Babelsberg Studios in Germany and Pinewood Studios in England. Lulworth Cove, Dorset, South West England doubled for Darin's setting of reclusiveness in Big Sur, California. In an attempt to convincingly portray Darin, particularly during the early stages of the singer's life depicted in the film, Spacey hired prosthetic makeup designer Peter King from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Music Soundtrack The soundtrack album features 18 tracks performed by Kevin Spacey. Release Marketing To promote Beyond the Sea, Spacey and Phil Ramone devised a 12-city United States concert tour titled An Evening Celebrating the Music of Bobby Darin, which consisted of Spacey performing with a 19-piece band. "It's me singing Bobby and talking about Bobby and talking a little bit about the movie," Spacey explained in June 2004. Spacey dressed in costumes from the movie for the tour, which started in San Francisco and traveled through Los Angeles,