Al Pacino refused to meet Phil Spector in preparation for an upcoming biopic about the incarcerated music producer as he believed the real man would be very different from the character in the movie.

The Oscar-winning actor declined a visit to meet Spector at a prison in Corcoran, California, where the music legend is currently serving out a life sentence for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

Pacino plays the convicted killer in Phil Spector, a television movie about the music mogul's relationship with his attorney Linda Kenney Baden, played by Dame Helen Mirren, during his first trial in 2007.

The initial court proceedings ended in a mistrial, while a second trial the following year (08) ended with a guilty verdict and a sentence of 19-years to life.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday (05Jan13), Pacino insisted he did not want to meet Spector in prison because he was worried incarceration would have changed him, as Spector in the film is not yet convicted of his crime.

Instead, the actor chose to watch archive footage of Spector to help with his performance.

He said, "I didn't know anything about him, except that he was responsible for a lot of great music and this strange case."

The biopic is set to air in March (13).