Kevin Spacey Directs 'Beyond the Sea'

CHICAGO (AP) _ Actor Kevin Spacey didn't get into many fights with his director in ``Beyond the Sea.'' That's largely because Spacey was himself in the director's chair. <br/><br/>Spacey

Monday, January 3rd 2005, 11:20 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Actor Kevin Spacey didn't get into many fights with his director in ``Beyond the Sea.'' That's largely because Spacey was himself in the director's chair.

Spacey told the Chicago Sun-Times in Sunday's editions that the hardest part about directing himself in the Bobby Darin biopic was making sure it didn't become a a vanity project.

``I wanted to make sure the other actors' roles were fully rounded,'' he said. ``I had lots of help. I had a wonderful production crew _ lots of people worked as my eyes and ears. There was no way I was out there alone.

``I learned a long time ago you had to learn how to direct yourself any time you were on a set with a director you didn't quite trust. You have to do that to save yourself as an actor.''

Spacey also said he chose himself as the director only out of desperation.

``I only ended up directing because I couldn't find the right person to do it!'' he said. ``It's not a job I was looking for, believe me. It's just that I wanted to tell this as a nonlinear story and we needed to break the rules, because Bobby Darin was a guy all about breaking the rules.''