HBO Canada, a multiplex channel of Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada) and Astral’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) presents Academy Award®winners Al Pacino and Helen Mirren in HBO Films’ Phil Spector. Written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning and Oscar®-nominated playwright David Mamet, the film is Mamet’s exploration of the client-attorney relationship between legendary music producer Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden, who represented Spector during his first trial for murder. Phil Spector premieres Sunday, March 24 at 9 p.m. ET/MT, day-and-date with HBO in the U.S..
In 2007, as the trial of music producer Phil Spector (Pacino) for the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson approaches in Los Angeles, attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Mirren) agrees to join Spector’s defense team, headed by lead attorney Bruce Cutler (Tambor).
Linda has her first meeting with Spector at his mansion, and observes the ornate and idiosyncratic décor in which the equally unconventional music legend makes his home. Despite Spector’s eccentricities, Linda finds herself intrigued by Spector and the challenges of the trial. She decides to continue working with the defense team and to take another look at the evidence being presented and the circumstances surrounding the case.
In building her defense, Linda explores how to get a jury to consider the possibility that reasonable doubt exists. Having witnessed Phil’s proclivity for erratic behavior, Linda and the rest of the defense team must consider the merits of putting him on the stand. Although he wishes to testify in his own defense, it is determined that Phil’s testimony could do more harm than good, despite the knowledge that Spector’s silence could spell defeat for the defense team and send their client to prison.
Phil Spector is executive produced by Academy Award® winner Barry Levinson (HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack,Rain Man) and David Mamet and produced by Emmy® winner Michael Hausman (HBO’s Recount). An HBO Films presentation of a Levinson/Fontana Production, the film also stars Emmy® nominee Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) as Bruce Cutler, the original lead defense attorney on the Spector team, and Golden Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kinky Boots, HBO’s Tsunami: The Aftermath) as a mock prosecutor.
