"Nine," Fellini Through the Lens of Hollywood and Broadway, Goes Wide Dec. 25

By Ernio Hernandez
25 Dec 2009

"Nine" director Rob Marshall and actor Daniel Day-Lewis
"Nine" director Rob Marshall and actor Daniel Day-Lewis
Photo by David James © The Weinstein Company

The Tony Award-winning musical Nine — which was inspired by the Federico Fellini film "8 ½" — returns to celluloid with Rob Marshall's new film adaptation of the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit musical. The film opens wide on Dec. 25 following a limited release.

The late Academy Award-winning writer-director Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient") and Michael Tolkin are credited with the screenplay for the Weinstein Company feature.

Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis heads the starry cast as haunted and contemplative Italian filmmaker Guido Contini. "Nine" follows his life "as he reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion, while balancing the numerous women in his life," according to film notes.

Among those women are Marion Cotillard (his wife Luisa), Penelope Cruz (his mistress Carla), Nicole Kidman (his muse Claudia), Judi Dench (his confidant/costume designer Liliane La Fleur), Kate Hudson (a journaist Stephanie), Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson (the whore Saraghina from his youth) and Sophia Loren (his mother).

Marshall (Cabaret) — who won acclaim for his direction on the Oscar-winning "Chicago" — applies his directorial hand to the new movie musical. In the film, the musical numbers are intercut with shots from an empty soundstage as the songs take the characters out of their reality.

Choreography is by Marshall and John DeLuca. Among the ten songs in the film are the newly-penned Yeston tunes "Take It All," "Guarda la Luna" and "Cinema Italiano." The score also features "Guido's Song," "A Call from the Vatican," "Folies Bergere," "My Husband Makes Movies," "Unusual Way" and "Be Italian."

Geffen Records released the currently-available soundtrack which includes four bonus tracks. The film premiered in New York and Los Angeles Dec. 18 in select theatres.

The film has already begun collecting honors: The Golden Globes nominated actors Day-Lewis, Cotillard and Cruz for their work, Yeston for "Cinema Italiano" and the film itself for Best Picture. It earned a record ten Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics Choice Movie Awards nominations. And has also earned nods from Screen Actors Guild Awards, Satellite Awards and more.

The Broadway musical Nine debuted on Broadway in 1982 with Raul Julia starring with Anita Morris and Karen Akers. The Tommy Tune-directed production earned five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Antonio Banderas led a 2003 Broadway revival with a cast that included Chita Rivera, Jane Krakowski, Laura Benanti and Mary Stuart Masterson. Director David Leveaux reset the work in the early 1960s, the revival won the Best Revival Tony.

For more information, visit nine-movie.com.