Aug 2, 2011 07:57 GMT  ·  By

Al Pacino is now working on a movie on the life of controversial music producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector. Dame Helen Mirren is cast to play Spector’s attorney, but various groups have already warned her to get ready to face the consequences if she doesn’t drop out of the project.

In 2003, the body of actress Lana Clarkson was found in Spector’s home. When police arrived, they found her dead from a gunshot wound to the mouth, in a chair. Spector was leaning over her with a gun in his hand.

Six years later, the once uber-famous music producer was found guilty of second degree murder. The biopic now in production is believed to present his case in a more favorable light, wherefrom the recent wave of protests.

Edward Lozzi, speaking on behalf of The Friends of Lana Clarkson, tells the Daily Mail that Mirren has already been told that she would better drop out of the HBO film if she doesn’t want her career to come to a halt.

Lozzi promises the British Oscar-winner no nominations and no awards if she goes through and shoots the movie as Spector’s lawyer Linda Kenney Baden.

The film, according to the group, is “an insensitive attempt to portray the loathsome, lying, gun-abusing convicted murderer of our friend Lana Clarkson with some kind of sympathy,” Lozzi tells the British tab.

“We have great respect for Helen Mirren. What we hope is that when she reads this script and sees Lana is being trashed, she will speak up and say, ‘This is not right’,” he argues.

“Helen Mirren probably didn’t know about The Friends of Lana Clarkson when she agreed to take the role – it would have been just another job to her. But now that she is aware, we ask her to examine her conscience,” Lozzi adds.

The part was initially offered to Bette Midler, who accepted it but later backed out saying she’d injured her back and could no longer respect the schedule. Mirren replaced her.

Mr. Lozzi is now saying that it was pressure from the group he’s representing that got Midler to change her mind about doing the film.

“Maybe her back does hurt but I think what persuaded her to quit was she didn’t want to hurt her image,” he says.

In response to all of the above, Mirren’s rep has only a few words to say: “She’s in the movie. She’s not dropping out. That’s all she’s saying.”