Rob Marshall to Direct Big Screen Musical 'Nine'

Variety reports that Rob Marshall will direct a feature film version of the Maury Yeston / Arthur Kopit musical Nine for the big screen.

The show, set in Venice, Italy in the 1960s was last seen on Broadway in 2003 starring Antonio Banderas, who was later replaced by John Stamos. The original production, directed by Tommy Tune and starring Raul Julia won 5 Tony awards including best musical. The revival won two, including best revival.

As per Variety, "After I finished 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' I began looking intensely at (other projects), including remakes of movies, originals and Broadway musicals," Marshall said. " 'Nine' (has) a seamlessness between reality and fantasy that is built into the fabric of the material. This one needs to be created specifically for the talent involved, to suit their strenghts," he said.Casting will be a big issue here, and if commitments complicates things, it will be 2009."

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 film will be produced by Harvey Weintstein, the pair having last worked together on Chicago via Miramax films. The film will be produced by Marshall and John DeLuca and choreograped by the pair as well.

Rob Marshall, whose latest big screen effort was Memoirs of a Geisha, received an Oscar nomination for directing the film version of Chicago, which won the 2003 Oscar for Best Picture.  He also choreographed the TV musical versions of "Annie" and "Cinderella," as well as "Mrs. Santa Claus."  Marshall earned a Tony nomination for co-directing the latest revival of Cabaret with Sam Mendes; he was also recognized with a nod for his choreography.  He has also received Tony nominations for choreographing Kiss of the Spider Woman, Damn Yankees, She Loves Me and Little Me.