Weinstein Brothers Look to Disney to Promote NINE

Variety reports that Harvey and Bob Weinstein of The Weinstein Company have turned to an old friend to help promote their new film, "Nine," set for a limited release on December 18.  Disney is the parent company of Miramax Films, which was founded and once operated by the Weinstein Brothers.  Once upon a time, the split was nasty.

Apparently there are no hard feelings, as Disney is preparing to give a big push to the Weinstein Brother's latest effort, in which content from "Nine" will be embedded in a variety of Disney/ABC shows, including ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and daytime soaps.

According to Variety: "Under the arrangement, a themed dance number on the Nov. 17 episode of "Stars" will be set to the "Nine" song "Be Italian." Dancers will also wear outfits from the movie. Meanwhile, throughout the month of December, "Nine" will be written into episodes of "All My Children," "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital." Also, on Nov. 22, a two-minute "Nine" trailer will run simultaneously "road-block" style on Lifetime, ABC Family, SoapNet, A&E and Bio. That same night, the trailer is set to run on ABC during the "American Music Awards."

ABC is also setting up a microsite on their website dedicated to the film.

To read the full report on the cross-platform media deal in Variety, click here.

"Nine" will be released on December 18th in New York and Los Angeles and will then go on wide release on December 25th.

The big screen adaptation of Nine: The Musical stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman. The all-star cast is directed by Rob Marshall, who also helmed critically-acclaimed 2002 musical Chicago - which garnered six Academy Awards, including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Catherine Zeta-Jones. Daniel Day-Lewis replaced the previously attached Javier Bardem in the leading role of Guido Contini, Bardem left the project citing exhaustion. Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, Sophia Loren and Judi Dench star in the film as well. Nine is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and is based off of Fredrico Fellini's movie 8 1/2. The play tells the story of a highly stressed director living in VenIce Trying to juggle all of the women in his life.

Nine revolves around one central character, Guido Contini a film director in the Fellini mold. He is contracted to write and direct a film, but is unable to come up with a suitable plot. After recent box office failures, he finds himself drifting towards a nervous breakdown. Guido finds himself examining his past flawed relationships with the many women who have come through his life and the struggle to act his mature age of 40--as opposed to nine.

The Broadway production of Nine, directed by Tommy Tune and choreographed by Thommie Walsh, opened on May 9, 1982 at the 46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 729 performances. The cast included Raúl Juliá as Guido, Karen Akers as Luisa, Liliane Montevecchi as Liliane, Anita Morris as Carla, Shelly Burch as Claudia, and Taina Elg as Guido's mother. Replacements later in the run included Bert Convy and Sergio Franchi as Guido, Maureen McGovern as Luisa, and Priscilla Lopez as Liliane. The musical won five Tony Awards, including best musical. The first revival of the 1982 Tony Award-winning musical hit Broadway in 2003 led by Antonio Banderas-who made his Broadway debut in the role of Guido. Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski,Mary Stuart Masterson, and Chita Rivera rounded out the original revival cast.