Spacey once turned down for Darin role

Kevin Spacey (pictured) was originally rejected for the role of Bobby Darin, because he wasn't famous enough.

The Oscar-winner, a huge Darin fan and lookalike, pitched himself for the part in the 1980s, when Martin Scorsese was scheduled to put Darin's life on the big screen - but the then-unknown Spacey was snubbed and the project was never made.

He explains: "Oddly, they didn't want this obscure theatre actor, who wanted to sing, to do it.

"But I kept my eye on it for years. Then I ended up doing a series of films for Warners, so I began to work quietly on getting the rights from them. I finally succeeded in 2000."