Sarandon, Goodman join Kevorkian biopic

U.S. actress Susan Sarandon attends a news conference at the Cairo International Film Festival November 19, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Susan Sarandon and John Goodman are set to join Al Pacino in "You Don't Know Jack," HBO Films' movie about Jack Kevorkian, the assisted-suicide specialist dubbed Dr. Death.

Kevorkian assisted in more than 130 suicides. After willingly sending a videotape of himself euthanizing a terminally ill man to "60 Minutes," he was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder and spent eight years in prison before getting paroled in 2007.

Loosely based on Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie's book "Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia," the HBO film follows Kevorkian's (Pacino) rise as he builds his infamous Mercy Machine and sets out to perform assisted suicides while waging an epic legal battles defending a patient's right to die.

Barry Levinson will direct from a script by Adam Mazer.

Goodman will play Nicol, a friend and co-worker of Kevorkian since 1961 and a steadfast supporter of the right to die.

Nicol's medical training as a corpsman and laboratory technician enabled him to assist Kevorkian on many occasions, while his laboratory supply company often provided materials for Kevorkian's efforts.

Sarandon will play Janet Good, an activist with the Hemlock Society who becomes one of Jack's staunchest supporters, working side by side with him to make humane suicide available to the terminally ill and suffering. After she is herself diagnosed with terminal cancer, she avails herself of Kevorkian's services, choosing her own time to die, surrounded by her friends and loved ones.

Goodman and Sarandon co-starred in the ill-fated 2008 feature "Speed Racer."

(Editing by DeanGoodman at Reuters)