What Went Wrong with the NINE Film?

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:49am

NINE is one of my all-time favorite musicals, and (being based on a Fellini classic) had all the qualities to translate to the screen. With Rob Marshall at the helm, who did so well with Chicago, it seemed that this would be easy as pie. So why was the reception so mixed-to-negative?

Was it Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido? The cutting of a lot of the score? I'm currently trying to learn more about musical filmmaking, so feel free to get as technical as you want.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:52am

In addition to the miscasting of several key roles and the fact that the added songs were nowhere near as good as the ones they replaced, the film never quite nailed the musical's rueful tone. It often felt like an empty pageant -- but what else would you expect from Rob Marshall?

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:52am

Lewis as Guido wasn't very good, and there were far too many changes to the book and score (I thought). Changing Guido's producer to his costumer took away that character's power, and made "Folies Bergere" a meaningless decorative piece.

In fact, I don't think that "meaning" has ever been Marshall's forte; he managed to eliminate most of it from Nine.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:52am

Marshall's conceit- of all the musical numbers being fantasy- just didn't work here like it did in Chicago. Coupled with a very miscast Day-Lewis and Kidman, inexplicable plot changes, and a score that was hacked to bits, you got a very mish-mashed film.

I think Fergie and Cruz were the best elements.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:55am

Perhaps because I didn't expect it, I rather enjoyed Marion Cotillard's performance of "Take It All;" however, I would much rather see and hear Karen Akers sing "Be On Your Own" any day.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 11:58am

I think Cotillard did a very good job in a role that was terribly reconceived for the movie.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:10pm

 

I actually enjoy the movie on its own terms, but it took me awhile to get to that point, as I’m very attached to the show. Do I wish more than half the score hadn’t been cut? Yes. Is there a much better movie adaptation to be made from NINE? Yes, and I hope someday we see it. I kind of love DDL’s performance in the movie – because it works in the movie. Those choices would never work in the show, nor do I think that’s he’d make those choices if he were starring in the show (or in a film adaptation that hewed more closely to the show). But I do agree that everything wrong with it lies squarely with Rob Marshall’s conception/on his shoulders. I also love Cotillard and Fergie, and Kidman has very touching moments. 

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:16pm

What went wrong, as several have suggested, is they hired Rob Marshall (I suspect the things that worked so well in "Chicago" have a lot more to do with Bill Condon's screenplay than Marshall's direction).

[Kad]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:24pm

I do think that the overture is stunning in the film, I will say.

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:31pm

Cutting most of the score of the second act certainly didn't help.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 12:45pm

 There are many things about the movie that I actually enjoy, but the real truth of the matter is that no movie of NINE would have succeeded, unless it had been directed by Fellini himself. Against all odds, it worked re-thinking 8 1/2 into a stage musical, but there was really no way to transfer it back to the screen without it seeming just derivative of the great filmmakers genius, not an extension of it.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:35pm

I long ago concluded that Kate Hudson's big production number was the single worst number in movie history.  It was painful to sit through.  Goes to a point, however...why mess with so much great material, especially when you ate going to replace it with drek (back to Kates's number).  I also liked Cotillard's final number, but it paled next to the original.  I guess they were trying to get a best song Oscar.

I thought that a number of the cast were fine, but Nicole Kidman -- who I normally love -- was terribly miscast; everything to do with Kate Hudson was embarrassing (and not her fault, other than for accepting the role); and I didn't even like Cruz, because I thought her role was even sillier than in the show.  I got tired of the artsy cinematography, which I am sure was intended to evoke 8 1/2, but was just annoying to me.

I thought Day-Lewis was good, but I would have preferred to see Antonio Banderas, who was shattering IMO in the Broadway revival.  Probably wouldn't have made a difference, since the movie was so bad,

I would like to disagree with the person who dissed Rob Marshall.  I saw the movie two days ago and thought his concept / direction was great.  I thought that Polanski deserved the Oscar that year, but I would have supported Marshall a lot of other years.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:39pm

I'm not saying it's great, but I love Cinema Italiano. It doesn't at all belong in the show, but I think it's so fun. 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:44pm

Simple: they didn't film Nine; they remade 8½, and sprinkled it with songs. Also, Rob Marshall's a one-trick pony, much like the stager he emulated most closely in his early work (Fosse).

[BJR]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:46pm

It's said when Fellini was making 8 1/2 he had a sign on the camera saying, "Remember, this is a comedy."

 

Marhsall needed that sign. Day-Lewis' angst was self-pitying and charmless and the film had a leaden tone.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:47pm

I like the film's aesthetic but I did not like the film. At least it got the time period right- the stage version is nominally New Wave Italian Cinema but seems to be written as late 1920s/early 1930s, the early days of color and sound.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:52pm

"Directed by Rob Marshall" tells you everything you need to know about why NINE is an unspeakable disaster.  The name "Anthony Minghella" appearing among the screenwriters tells you even more -- guaranteeing a bogus solemnity that is completely out of place in an adaptation of Fellini's 8 1/2.

 

 

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:52pm

As a film it fails, but as a series of music videos, I find it enjoyable.  Fergie sings the crap out of Be Italian.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 1:52pm

I have never seen the show onstage. Saw the movie twice and really enjoyed it.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 2:04pm

I enjoy the movie in pieces. The Overture is stunningly shot. Cotillard's "My Husband Makes Movies" is great. Cruz's is excellent throughout.

It has no place in the movie, but I love Cinema Italiano...

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 4:54pm

It would be far easier to tell you what went right. 

 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/22/17 at 8:20pm

They needed to move further from Fellini's film, but instead they literally shot it at the same hotel Fellini shot 8 1/2 at.