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Asked how he got into the character of Nine’s Guido Contini, the Italian director suffering a midlife crisis in creating his ninth movie, Italia, about “a myth, a woman, a dream,” Daniel Day-Lewis cheekily claimed, “Instead of drinking a dry martini, I switched to Negronis.”   (An Italian aperitif, the Negroni’s made with Campari, gin and sweet vermouth, named after Count Camillo Negroni of Florence during the early 1900s when the aristocrat wanted “something stronger in his cocktail,” hence the gin.)  

Truth to tell, Daniel’s Italian accent in Nine is astonishing, and we’ve discovered that he was so into his character that he had stationery printed with Guido’s name for sending notes to the cast.  Also, Daniel requested that the cast never disturb or speak to him on the set, as he was intensely concentrating on metamorphosing into the lubricious Guido.  Typical of Daniel’s modus operandi, as with his Oscar-winning roles in There Will Be Blood and My Left Foot.

Directed by Rob Marshall, whose 2002 film, Chicago, won six Oscars, Nine is a theatrical triumph.  Savvy, sassy, surreal, and with an exceptional cast.  When Rob introduced the film to the crowd during the Los Angeles premiere in Westwood, he admitted, “I couldn’t believe these actresses all came aboard, and I pinched myself every day to believe this was real.” 

Marion Cotillard, who won the Oscar in her role as ‘the little sparrow,” Edith Piaf, in La Vie En Rose, portrays Guido’s wife, saddened and disgusted by his affairs.  She delivers another Oscar-worthy performance.  In one scene in Nine, an observer tells Guido, “You movie people … you have no morality.”  

Penelope Cruz burns the screen as Guido’s fiery mistress (“I wait for you with my legs open”); Kate Hudson’s a flirtatious, booty-shaking Vogue journalist; Nicole Kidman is Guido’s muse; Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson of the Black Eyed Peas is his prostitute, and she, like Penelope, explodes on the screen; Judi Dench is the costumiere confidante; and the indomitable Sophia Loren plays “mamma.”  Easy to understand why Rob was pinching himself.  

Nine’s song and dance numbers simmer with exuberance, the sexy costumes by Colleen Atwood are knockouts, the sets lush, as is Dion Beebe’s eye-catching cinematography.   As you leave the theater, you’ll be humming the film’s finale, Be Italian.

A whirligig of memories and fantasies that float in and out of time, Nine is adapted from the 1982 Broadway musical starring Raul Julia, with songs by Maury Yeston and winning five Tony awards.   Antonio Banderas later starred in the 2003 revival, which won two Tonys.   Inspired by Federico Fellini’s 1963 Oscar-winning masterpiece, 8 l/2, the newly titled, Nine, refers to that half of the 8 1/2 Guido can’t get a grip on to finish.   Initially, Marcello Mastroianni starred as Guido, along with Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimee in what was described as “overflowing with a carnival of imagery fused from one man’s memories, dreams, flights of fancy, nostalgia, humor and demons.”  In a word: voluptuous.

Rob Marshall admits that it took perseverance to convince Daniel to take on the role of Guido.  Once Javier Bardem stepped aside, a determined Rob visited Daniel and his wife Rebecca Miller daily at their Connecticut residence.  “For breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Daniel tells the New York Times’ Rachel Donadio.  “I thought he was living with us.   I can’t pretend I wasn’t intrigued by the idea.  In various proportions, fear and intrigue are great stimulants and aphrodisiacs in our work.  If Rob hadn’t knocked on the door every day, I might not have done it.  I don’t know if I’d risk it again.”   To create his character, Daniel immersed himself in Italian films from the past.

Would that he could have filmed Nine entirely in Italy, says Rob.  “But production and labor costs are prohibitive … wherever you look in Italy, you see style with the women and the men, even the children, the way they dress.  You experience such ease and freedom, and what’s better than that fabulous food.  We shot there briefly, and ended up filming at Shepperton Studios near London.” 

The film, circa 1960s, is dedicated to filmmaker Anthony Minghella, who died at age 54 two days after completing the screenplay, co-written with Michael Tolkin (The Player).    Congratulations are due the brothers Weinstein, Harvey and Bob, and Marc Platt for having the vision to produce and fund Nine.  Also, thanks to Harvey and Bob for bringing us this year’s great Inglourious Basterds from Quentin Tarantino with Oscar-worthy Christophe Waltz in that terrifying role of the Nazi colonel; Tom Ford’s elegiac A Single Man, with Oscar-worthy performances from Colin Firth and Julianne Moore; and Cormac McCarthy’s futuristic The Road starring Viggo Mortensen.

James Cameron’s Avatar  stars Aussie actor Sam Worthington as the paraplegic Marine hero, the botanist Sigourney Weaver, and heroine Zoe Saldana.  As with The Road, Avatar lifts us into a far-off galaxy in 2154 and onto the exotic planet Pandora, where the Na’vi tribal inhabitants are 10-feet-tall and blue.  Why blue, Jim Cameron was queried. “I’ve always liked that color … green’s cliché, and purple makes you look dead.”   

Oscar nominations are forthcoming.  Speaking with Fox’s marketing maestro Jeffrey Godsick, we learn that the reaction to the London premiere was beyond expectations, with critics declaring Avatar a “colossus.”   And that Jim Cameron’s genius is in every frame.   While in London, Jeffrey motored to Birmingham for a business conference, and stopped in Oxford for lunch where he discovered the vintage Turf Tavern, serving grub and booze since 1398!

The box-office champion of all time, Jim’s 1997 Titanic earned eleven Academy Awards (including Best Picture), grossed $1.8 billion worldwide, with the production budget around $200 million.    While official figures are not available, production costs for Avatar, in the works for a number of years, purportedly climbed between $300-plus million, with another $150 million slated for marketing.   “The most expensive film ever made,” confirms Fox’s Jim Gianopulos, praising the spectacular computer graphics, those 2,500 special effects shots, and the roof-raising 3-D technology created by hundreds of artists.  Escapist entertainment to the max.  Like no movie anyone’s ever seen, with warfare more imaginative than Star Wars.  Not to be missed.  

In days of yore when I was college-bound, Margaret Mead was the most famous anthropologist in the world, and long before she died in 1978, I interviewed her during a class seminar.   Discussing fame, she claimed that we citizens didn’t give a damn if Hollywood celebrities were caught in a scandal.  No surprise, we expected it.   Heaven forfend if sports stars were scandalized.   They were sacred.  Gods.  Sports were all-American, apple pie and ice cream.

Which brings us to Tiger Woods’ steamy harem of bachelorette bimbettes and pussycat barflies, who were wire-transferred monies, or who’ve pocketed a shekel or more for their tabloid tales.  Or from new payoffs from the world’s champion golfer, whose dad Earl was a serial cheater.

Rachel Uchitel, who hired attorney Gloria Allred, is negotiating a $5 million hush bribe ($1 million a year).   Being overlooked, however, are the married women and their quickie hookups with Tiger.  They’re nervous that their closeted trysts will be exposed and hurt marriages and families.  Sad to say, our journalism wizards predict that Tiger’s saga “has legs, and ain’t going away.”