We Can't Wait #20 Nine (The Musical)

Directed by Rob Marshall
Starring 5 Oscar winners, 2 previous nominees and, uh, Fergie
Synopsis This tuner is an adaptation of the 80s Broadway musical which was itself an adaptation of Federico Fellini's autobiographical fantasia 8½, which concerns a movie director who is creatively stuck. He seeks inspiration as his various female muses circle and/or compete for his attention
Brought to you by Oscar seeking mad man Harvey Weinstein and Rob Marshall's hefty pair (seriously, he's taking on memories of a Broadway classic AND the ghost of Fellini? Good luck with that, sir)
Expected Release Date Thanksgiving

Nicole loves Daniel in "A Very Unusual Way"

Nathaniel: I'm a sucker for a big movie musical and I think this is the rare stage musical that might be improved by bringing it to the screen. It is about the cinema after all. And since it's also about the siren call of sensationally attractive women (Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard chief among them) I'm salivating and assuming the best.

I couldn't help but notice that this wasn't on JA's list but I think he doth protest too much. I bet he laughs heartily when Cruz does "A Call from the Vatican", cheers when Judi Dench reminisces about the "Folies Bergere" and weeps when Sophia Loren sings "Nine" to her baby son in grown man's body (Daniel Day-Lewis).

JA: Did I just get called out? I think I just got called out. It's not like I have a secret Fosse closet at home where I sneak every night like Carrie with her St. Sebastien statue and pay to the gods of jazz hands for some sassy forgiveness for my musical bashing sins, Nathaniel. No... not like that at all. La la la... hey, look, there's a big gory slasher movie!

Anyway, the cast is terrific - though I'm mostly curious about seeing Daniel Day Lewis hoof it - and I will probably watch this at some point. I don't think it'll be opening weekend at the Zeigfeld though because I still have traumas from seeing Chicago that way and dodging the audience's enthusiastic in-time dance-steps. Shudder. That so was not my scene.

As a side-note I need to admit that I have a deep irrational fear of Sophia Loren - when I was a little JA my grandmother told me that Loren was a witch and it terrified me; I've never seen her in a movie because of it. This movie will probably bust my Loren cherry.

Joe: This movie is yanking me in all directions. On the one hand, sprawling casts full of accomplished "name" talent like this are catnip to me, and Rob Marshall did a fine job with his last Broadway adaptation. But this particular cast? I can't argue with the talent, but none of them are actors I get excited about. The closest I get is probably Judi Dench, and I'm kind of fascinated imagining just what she'll do in this kind of movie. Of course, the fact that the Kidman, Day-Lewis, Cruz, and Cotillard fanbases will all be converging at once almost guarantees that I'll be turned off by the time opening weekend comes. In the meantime, I'll occupy myself imaging the conversations Nicole and Penélope got up to over lunch.

Fox: This is kind of one of those bizarre screen -> to stage -> to screen transmorphations a la Hairspray, yes? I would hate to see 8½ get buried somewhere under the two new layers on top of it. Though, kudos to the playwright for at least rounding the title up to 9 (Nine) so the young ones don't get confused.

My ignorance of Broadway: After we saw Chicago I turned to my wife and said "Hmm, I really liked those songs. Who do you think wrote them?". She looked at me the way Nathaniel is probably looking at his screen right now.

Whitney: I always think I don't like musicals, and then I go and see something like Chicago and go on a "He Had it Comin'" kick that lasts three weeks. Oh, and I really like The Wiz. Daniel Day Lewis should star in a new remake of The Wiz.


Nathaniel: Readers, your turn. Will you ease on down this road for DDL and assorted goddesses... or maybe one in particular? Do tell in the comments. [see also: several previous posts]

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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