Daniel-Day Lewis explains to Penelope Cruz how a musical remake of 8 1/2 isn't a terrible premise. Hearing someone is going to turn Federico Fellini's basically undisputed masterpiece into a musical can cause a few heads to turn and many heads to roll. Not only does that sound like a bad idea, but it's also a confusing idea. Why would 8 1/2 be something anyone would decide is prime for translating into song? Who would even want to do something like that? A lot of people. First Arthur Kopit, novelist, and Maury Yeston, musician and lyricist, sat down and made the Broadway musical version in 1982. Now Rob Marshall, director of Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, went ahead and made Nine a film under everyone's noses. The trailer makes it look like what it should look like: a fusion of his Chicago and 8 1/2.
The bastard cast this perfectly. Daniel-Day Lewis? Who isn't going to see a movie with Daniel-Day Lewis as the lead? Marion Cotillard? Penelope Cruz? Enchanting, wonderful actresses. Fergie as a whore? Exactly! Kate Hudson is a little annoying, but Nicole Kidman can cancel that out. There isn't all that much music in the trailer, but it sounds like they're singing about Italy. Which is a little weird. Can't you go the distance and not have an English-language film act like it knows anything about Italy? Apparently not.
This looks and sounds like it's shaping up to be worth seeing. Maybe. I want to remain skeptical. Just... let me have that. It comes out Thanksgiving Day. Fitting.
- Eric T. Voigt, Muse Time
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