Tommy Tune Praises Rob Marshall's NINE

Tommy Tune, in an interview with Variety, praised film director Rob Marshall for his delivery in the movie musical NINE. Tune directed the original Broadway installment of NINE, which had a successful run from 1982 - 1984 at the 46th Street Theatre. 

Says Tune in Variety:

"Rob Marshall is a filmmaker plus. The plus is the gargantuan talent and technique he possesses for creating, not just films, but film musicals, contemporary film musicals. Today's screen characters, rooted in a certain reality, can't just burst into song when the temperature of a scene demands it. That could turn a heartfelt moment into a joke in these cynical times. Rob has conceived a whole new language to accommodate these transitions from acting to singing to dancing, with an alacrity that is deceptively natural. Tricky stuff. Life isn't like this, but Rob pulls it off. In "Nine" there is not one jarring transition from scene to song to dance to scene. With this film he has taken his latest step up into this complicated, mysterious and difficult medium. However, I suspect, if you take away all this plus factor which Rob owns, you'll discover simply a fine and sensitive film director who works straight from his heart. I feel this is the essential prerequisite for all great directorial work. And that's the true plus of Rob Marshall."

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.

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.

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. For more information visit the official NINE website by clicking here.

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