September 2008 By Philip Berk
Guido is a forty year old Italian director (inspired by the great Italian director Federico Fellini) whose last three films have been flops. He is suffering a mid-life crisis while embroiled in relationships with his wife, a mistress ,and five other muses.
At the same time he is about to shoot a new movie but he hasn’t the slightest idea for the movie.
Out of this Rob Marshall, the director of Chicago, has fashioned a work of art destined to become a classic.
Inspired by Fellini’s 8 1/2 Nine boasts an all star cast including Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench, Marian Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman.
At his press conference in New York Rob is nervous but pleased with the reception.
What was his connection to Fellini’s films?
“Of course he’s an inspiration for all film makers, and it’s daunting work from a Fellini film. Because 8-1/2 is such a masterpiece, the only way to create this piece was to move away from it, know that it’s a part of the DNA and the characters in the story live in the musical, to reinvent it and not to tread in those footsteps which are so huge. The gorgeous thing about Fellini’s work as a musical is, because he created such works that moved between fantasy and reality and memory so fluidly, it works so beautifully as a musical film because the music can come out of fantasy or come out of memory. One of the reasons I chose to do Nine was because I thought it could work as a film musical.”
Whose idea was it to cast Judi Dench?
“The part was re-imagined in this version as I felt that Guido needed a confidante, someone he could speak to and talk to. He’s the most honest with the character of Lilli. I felt we needed that connection. In the Broadway production, that character was the producer and on stage it was Guido and all women. In our movie because it’s reality, the producer is a male as it would have been in the ’60s in Rome so I re-imagined that part. I wanted to find someone who could sing of course and Judi created the part of Sally Bowles in London in Cabaret. I needed a great actor to be with Daniel. I really wanted someone who could bring humor, warmth, a sense of playfulness between them, and to me, Judi is one of the greatest actors in the world.”
He has five Oscar winners in the film. What was his criteria in casting?
“We had work sessions with each. Your hope when you’re casting is that the actors claim their roles. That’s sort of what happened when Marion Cotillard came in, for instance, to play Luisa. She came in for Lilli. I actually ended up casting the majority of it before we even started writing because I wanted to write for specific actors. It became clear as we started moving forward who was who. Penelope Cruz read for three different roles. The one person I knew I needed to cast in this movie no matter what was Sophia (Loren) and I called her. I was a nervous wreck. I said, “I can’t do this film without you. could you please play Guido’s mother and she said yes.”
The set piece which recurs throughout the movie, were these scenes all shot at one time and was he able to shoot in continuity?
“Because I come from theatre, I understand desperately wanting to do full numbers and try and work in continuity when you can. That’s the hope but with this film there were so many moving parts, so many actors involved I actually had to move out of sequence. In terms of the conceptual idea of the film. Obviously, this man has this enormous set for his movie, but there is no movie. It’s just an idea; so he’s desperately trying to put something on that in the sound stage. All the numbers that we shot took place on that stage, and I don’t know if that was clear but every time we were able to imagine the space, we’d fill it with sand and broken old chairs, and it became cinema. It became the Italian, or we would put a huge white backdrop and create a fashion runway. Something like Cinema Italiano. It always helps me as a film-maker too because there are so many possibilities in musicals. There’s so much to choose so you try and limit your choices. When I came up with the concept of creating all these musical numbers in that space, it helped me figure out how it would all work. We would shoot a number, then we would have to dismantle that. We’d did a musical number a week.”
After Javier Bardem dropped out, why didn’t he pursue Antonio Banderas who did it on Broadway, and how did he end up with Daniel Day Lewis?
“It’s one of the hardest things to do when you’re casting. I loved Antonio on stage in Nine. He was fantastic. I met with him but I really wanted to begin with a new Guido. I really felt like I needed to reinvent him from the stage production. In terms of Javier, we talked about it for quite a while. He had won the Oscar for No Country for Old Men, and it was quite overwhelming to him, and he just didn’t want to work. The ship was moving, we were just starting, and he didn’t feel he wanted to do it. That’s always a blessing because you know it’s not meant to be. I’m a real believer in it has to be meant to be. Luckily Daniel’s managers are also Judi’s managers and we know Daniel is very particular about what he does, a movie maybe once every three years. He wasn’t looking to do something and a musical would be the farthest thing from his mind. Still, I met with him and he was intrigued by it. I was shocked that he was intrigued. Then we found out that he could sing, and from that moment I knew I’d found my Guido. People don’t see him as charming, but he’s so charming and he’s so wonderful and he’s such a complicated, great actor with such depth, I was just in heaven.”
Talk about Marion Cotillard’s performance.
“What’s amazing about Marion for me as Luisa is the simplicity of her work. The honesty, the truth. Some people have that ‘I can see through skin’ where you can feel them, feel what they’re feeling. She can sing as well. That was such a revelation to me. When I saw Piaf, I thought, ‘Wow, she’s lip-synching so well’, but when she started to sing and she sang ‘My Husband Makes Movies, it just broke my heart. I needed that vulnerability, and that’s what she brought; beauty and vulnerability, strength, sadness. She’s magic.”
Penelope replaced Catherine Zeta Jones at short notice. How did you help her prepare for the role?
“The incredible thing about Penelope is rarely can you find one person who can be sexy and beautiful, funny, vulnerable, and also be able to play a dramatic scene. That range is pretty unbelievable. Penelope is a perfectionist. She will do it 800 times. She was the first one there, the last one to leave every day of rehearsal. She cried when the number was over because she’d worked so hard on it. She had to deal with these ropes. When we were shooting it, she developed calluses, and they were breaking and bleeding. When you’re doing it over and over again and really trying, it’s tricky. It was really hard and scary because she doesn’t come from theatre. Here she is, she had three spotlights in her eyes. he couldn’t see the edge of the frame. I remember Daniel Day Lewis came the day we were shooting. He was an incredible support for all the ladies and he kept calling her a worrier. She worked really hard, and I’m proud of her for that.”
Why Kate Hudson?
“Well, it’s interesting. Kate came in, and I’ve known her for years, but I had no idea she could sing, had no idea she could dance. I thought she was a great actress. She is so infectious and such a wonderful person, but when she began to sing it was astonishing, and it suggested this idea of ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a woman from the American perspective in the film?’ And what about Kate? because I use her in this film that’s really European. When she danced I was knocked out and I thought ‘Well, that’s it!’ I knew we had to figure out a way to make this work in our story.