What actress doesn’t dream of reliving Fellini’s magic? Here, a head-spinning lineup of A-list stars join forces in Rob Marshall’s movie-musical Nine. Plum Sykes visits them on set.
Shepperton Studios, London, on a bleak December day. Shrouded in a freezing fog, the lot seems faintly neglected, as though abandoned. The various buildings—prop shops, costume houses—look like little more than sheds. A car drops me off at a side door to a soundstage, where a harried but friendly publicist meets me.
Inside, it’s as though a magician has waved his wand. Suddenly I am transported half a century back in time to the Italy of La Dolce Vita. To my left is an empty set-within-a-set of a Roman piazza, and to my right is a bustling re-creation of a 1960s movie studio. An intricate scaffolding of iron balconies and stairwells has been built in front of the corrugated walls of the soundstage. Nowhere, it turns out, could be more perfect for Rob Marshall to direct the song-and-dance numbers for Nine, his latest movie, because the bones of Shepperton have an uncanny resemblance to the Cinecittà of Fellini’s 8½, the inspiration for Maury Yeston’s 1982 Broadway musical Nine, on which this film is based.
Bang ahead of me, Daniel Day-Lewis, playing the lead, Guido, is dressed in a forties-style waistcoat, a white shirt, and beige pants. Nine is Guido’s story—the tale of a legendary director who can’t find a subject for his next film or a way to control the many women in his life. Day-Lewis is seated on a crane, “directing” a scene.
Get all the latest on Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and the movie Nine at:
- Kate Hudson Heaven
- Nicole’s Magic
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