The movie adaptation of "Nine" (2009) - why?- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 3:02am

Toni is perfect if they ever make that NEXT TO NORMAL movie they talked about. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 3:04am

"Toni is perfect if they ever make that NEXT TO NORMAL movie they talked about. "

 

When I first heard Kitt & Yorkey were writing If/Then for Idina, I naturally assumed it would later lead to her starring in the film of Next to Normal. But yes, Toni would be perfection.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 3:13am

My idea for the FOLLIES movie is this: don't get fancy: use what the creators have given you. Use the Goldman book. The length is perfect for a film. Don't update the setting. It's a period piece. Literally film the entire thing inside an old theatre. Open up too backstage, or the lobby, or the wings. The ghosts are filmed in black and white and appear with their counterparts. Sometimes the leads see them, sometimes not. Use very theatrical lighting - it's a show about theatre, have spotlights even when "realistically" they wouldn't appear. For "Too Many Mornings" have Sally and Ben right outside the stage door, so it's as if they've finally escaped and are free to be together.

The pastiche numbers are all on stage with theatrical lighting (with the possible exception of "I'm Still Here".

Finally, when Loveland hits, BAM! Full lavish MGM-style movie musical numbers in bright colors. It will be shocking and very stylistically different.

The only other thing is to maybe (MAYBE) add "All Things Bright and Beautiful" into the show. If the leads can sing (and maybe have a bunch of Broadway "stars" in smaller, supporting roles) it would be wonderful, I think.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 3:39am

Please direct the film-version of Follies, Sally. I love everything you just said.

And I know you don't want Rob Marshall, but I actually feel like he could do a good job with Follies (if he were to do what you said and not update it).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 4:01am

I disagree about Marshall. I think he'll dumb it down, make inelegant and arbitrary cuts to the music, cast everyone too old, and apply some ridiculous conceit to "justify" the singing, like it's based on the Chapin book or something. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 3:09pm

"Your subject title made me laugh, and I agree with you that the movie version of Nine is not very good (I hated it when I first saw it, but saw it again in 2011 and thought it was merely mediocre and a missed opportunity)."

 

My parents took me to see it in the theater. I agreed with your second take, that it was merely mediocre and a missed opportunity but it's definitely one of the few times I can remember being that disappointed in a movie I paid to see. I Am Love will always be the worst though. 

I don't think the movie is a complete waste. There are songs that I like. It's just that it feels like they work as out of context music videos and not sequences that support a larger story. 

 

"Meryl can carry a tune. She can't carry a musical."

 

Agreed. I don't want to bring back dubbing though. I want them to just cast the best people for the job regardless of star power. It's not going to happen but I'd settle for just casting legitimate Broadway talent in a role or two so they at least have a shot at breaking out and getting a fan base among mainstream audiences.

 

"Why is Toni Colette not in any movie musicals?"

 

Does Connie and Carla count? If so, that might be your answer. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 8:25pm

I need to see the stage production of NINE. Have never seen it or listened to it. Might be why I really enjoyed the film version.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 9:06pm

While I feel that the stage adaptation of NINE is far superior to the movie, I don't hate the latter quite as much as most do. My biggest problems with it were the casting of Daniel Day-Lewis, a screenplay that was much weaker than Kopit's book, and that they cut so much of the incredible score. Ugh!

That said, I believe the film does have flashes of brilliance that could have made for a pretty extraordinary Hollywood musical if they'd been executed consistently...

• Penelope Cruz was a perfect Carla- and I'm saying that as someone who is very picky with that role. Her "Vatican" may not have been as vocally exhilarating as others, but I thought the number as a whole really worked.
• "Be Italian" was terrific and I wish they would've used Fergie more as Sarraghina.
• Judi Dench was almost there as La Fleur, but part of me really wishes they could have gotten Chita to reprise her Tony-nominated performance.
• On that note, Antonio Banderas IS a film "name," so why didn't they just use him for Guido...?
• Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson were grossly miscast, although "Cinema Italiano" is a guilty pleasure song of mine for dancing.

[Showface]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 9:14pm

I have not seen the NINE film, nor have I seen the stage show, so maybe I'll end up liking the film more because of that? 

 

I think Rob Marshall has hits and misses, and I think it comes down to the screenplay, and the subject matter. He really does need to let go of finding excuses for character's to sing...Chicago worked perfectly with that concept, but apparently, NINE did not. The only reason he didn't search for a concept with Into the Woods? was because it starts out with singing.

 

I will say that I did enjoy Into the Woods, though (a lot, actually), but I can understand why fans of the would not like it. I too have certain issues with the film, but they are relatively small.

 

But as for Follies, I agree that Rob Marshall needs to step aside. Maybe he could do Kiss of the Spiderwoman?

 

(And I love Streep...I think the thing with her voice is that she's an actress first and foremost so her vocal choices are unique to the character. For example, her voice in Into the Woods is different than it is in Ricki and the Flash, or Death Becomes Her).

Updated On: 8/23/15 at 09:14 PM

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 9:30pm

I'd love to see a Follies movie shot like a Fosse film, but that would probably be too weird for producers. Which sucks, because his style's atmospheric use of emotional and/or ironical editing suits the show perfectly, particularly its fragmented nature. I mean, he's also dead but there's plenty of interesting filmmakers working today who could pull off that tricky surreal/grounded tone.

[Showface]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 9:35pm

I do wish that everything doesn't have to be so grounded in realism nowadays. In the golden age of movie musicals, it was perfectly acceptable to burst out in song, fear that songs would slow down the pacing were seemingly less present, and the lines between real and surreal were blurred. A Follies film would have been perfect for that time. It will take a director, in my opinion, who is not afraid to go back to the style of those golden age movie musicals.

[BobNC]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 10:00pm

I saw the original 1982 production of "Nine" twice.  My all-time favorite musical ever. I ran out to see the film version on the Christmas Day it opened. I had never been so disappointed in an adaptation. That being said, I do have the Blu-Ray.  Maybe I'll give it a second chance.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 10:10pm

"In the golden age of movie musicals, it was perfectly acceptable to burst out in song, fear that songs would slow down the pacing were seemingly less present..."

 

While I agree that it was those fears were seemingly less present, remember that producers tried to remove Over the Rainbow after children in early screenings grew fidgety during the legendary number. Leave it to producers to always underestimate audiences.

[GroupAGroup1]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 10:24pm

Preface: I haven't seen the show on stage, though I know the original cast recording well. It's a show I've always been fine with, but I don't really think about it a lot.

The movie is astonishingly bad, just as a piece of storytelling. Scenes keep happening, and keep happening, and I. DO. NOT. CARE. THE DRAMATIC TENSION IS [cen] NONEXISTENT.

And I think that's a big part of what makes the movie so unlikable: scenes keep happening, and musical numbers show up out of nowhere (as if they just picked them randomly from the show), and everything keeps piling up, AND THE MOVIE THINKS IT'S SAYING SO MUCH, AND IT'S SAYING NOTHING.

It's very clear that Rob Marshall had no idea how to adapt the show to screen... so he torched it. Just to get a giant pile of... NOTHING.

Updated On: 8/23/15 at 10:24 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 11:24pm

I think GoupAGroup1 hit the nail on the head. So much is going on yet essentially nothing is happening.

 

Anyone in the Pittsburgh area, Pitt's theatre department is doing the show this spring. It will be my first time seeing it live and I am very excited.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 8/23/15 at 11:41pm

Fellini's 8 1/2- THAT is why- it's every film director's wet dream- their personal wet dream so an opportunity to redo it and make it more "theirs" too too tempting. Egos not violin. 

[tazber]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 6:05am

As I wrote at length when the movie came out, and as Mr. Nowack mentioned in this thread, the movie musical NINE is not really an adaptation of the stage musical.

 

It's much more a remake of 8 1/2 with a few of the songs from the musical thrown in.

 

Yeston and Tune found a way to make a movie about movies work as a stage musical. They reimagined the source material to work in a totally different medium.

 

Having said that, I sometimes put on the blu-ray just to hear the Overture Delle Donne and Be Italian.

Fergie is the best thing about the film.

[aj88]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 9:12am

I have always loved NINE as a musical...I remember seeing the 2003 revival and really liking it, but it was when I discovered the 1982 OBC Cast Recording that I really truly fell in love with the show.

I know it gets a lot of flak for beating Dreamgirls, which is a strong show in its own right, but Nine had more of an effect on me as a whole.

As for the movie, it was a complete misfire in nearly every respect. It contained one of Daniel Day Lewis' weakest performances and so many people were just miscast or bland. For me, the highlight was Marion Cotillard, who should have received the Supporting Actress nomination over Penelope Cruz. And as many have stated, the cutting of several songs and the new cobbled together script just bogged it down tremendously.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 11:22am

Adapting Nine as a film musical was a perfectly understandable and potentially thrilling idea.  It was just ruined in its execution every step of the way.  I would still love to see a film adaptation of the Broadway musical as we really haven't yet received one.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 11:29am

The film's rampant miscasting is a matter of public record -- only Marion Cotillard rises above the sewage.  For me the film's most grotesque miscalculation was the utter GLOOMINESS of the proceedings -- everybody's suffering all over the place is amped to such a level that the movie just winds up being a colossal downer, rather than the joyful comedy that Fellini's original film is.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 11:37am

^^^

So true.

 

Guido is a tricky character. He's egotistical, narcissistic, and selfish. But he's also brilliant, and feels things very passionately. 

 

The movie only amplified his negative traits and Day Lewis was unable to find the warmth that the character has in the musical. He comes off as just a whiny spoiled brat in the movie.

 

 

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 11:55am

^^^ Guido is also likable -- he's just plain likable, even as his less admirable qualities are spilled all over the screen.  I always suspected that the late unlamented Anthony Minghella had a big hand in the gloomification of the script.  Day-Lewis doesn't help matters -- he's so busy being so very tortured it's hard to work up any sympathy or interest in the guy, he's got none, and I mean NONE, of the charm that animated Mastroianni's Guido in Fellini's film and Raul Julia's Guido in the original Broadway cast, and thus Day-Lewis' Guido's final breakdown, while skillfully peformed, isn't even remotely moving because, well, who cares.  It takes him a long time to realize what has been eminently clear to even the dimmest movie-goer: the guy's an asshole.

Updated On: 8/24/15 at 11:55 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/24/15 at 5:38pm

Why would there be sufficient momentum and passion to drive some high power movie professionals to make a movie from a successful - even, to your point, a relatively modestly successful - stage musical which is based on a classic movie that many high power movie professionals idolize and which largely treats of the momentum and passion high power movie professionals have for movie-making?