Al Pacino to play Phil Spector
Lana Clarkson's family and friends are demanding to know why a new TV movie about record producer Phil Spector's lengthy murder trial is on lockdown.
Spector was convicted of Clarkson's 2003 murder in 2009 and is currently serving 19 years to life in a California prison.
As HBO bosses and moviemaker David Mamet piece together the details of the murder trial for an untitled new movie, starring Al Pacino as the disgraced music mogul, a group calling itself The Friends of Lana Clarkson has demanded to check scripts and plot lines to make sure Clarkson isn't misrepresented in the film.
But group leader Edward Lozzi, a publicist who once represented the late actress, insists there's something wrong with all the secrecy surrounding the set and even words of comfort from Helen Mirren, who portrays Spector's lawyer in the film, aren't enough to appease family and friends.
Lozzi says, "HBO and David Mamet still refuse to show us any facts or script pages concerning how our friend Lana Clarkson is portrayed. We are wondering why HBO has shut down their sets to press, and shut down their own press staff from giving any information about Lana's role to the media."
His comments come a day after Mirren issued a statement to The Press Association, assuring Clarkson's supporters she will not be trashing the actress in the film.
She said, "Lana was obviously a really, really lovely woman and, quite rightly, her friends are worried that she will be dissed and she is certainly not dissed in our story at all."
Lozzi adds, "We are very grateful to Helen Mirren for having the courtesy and understanding to come forward with her statements which are promising.
"However we are still concerned about the troubling statements that David Mamet made to (newspaper) the Financial Times that he feels Phil Spector is innocent, that he should not be in prison, and that no one knows what really happened the night Spector murdered Lana Clarkson.
"All of these statements Mamet made are untrue and a slap in the face to American jurisprudence. The murderer Phil Spector is in prison for life where he belongs - a menace to society."
Tagged in Al Pacino Lana Clarkson