Holiday shopping for the musical lover on your list just got a little bit easier as Geffen Records announced that the soundtrack to the Weinstein Oscar hopeful, “Nine,” will be released on Dec. 22 — just four days after its NY/LA opening and three days before the film’s wide release on Christmas Day.
In addition to songs that have been featured in the Tony-award winning Broadway show, the film and soundtrack will feature three brand new songs written by Maury Yeston. “Guarda La Luna” (written for Mamma played by Sophia Loren), “Cinema Italiano” (written for Stephanie Necrophuros played by Kate Hudson) and “Take It All” (written for Luisa Contini played by Marion Cotillard) are the titles of the new songs that will appear alongside the tunes that made up the original musical, but as of yet, there is no news of what songs, if any, will be cut from the stage production.
Inspired by Frederico Fellini’s “8 1/2,” “Nine” follows a film director, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who escapes to a Venetian spa to regain his inspiration, only to be haunted by the women in his life including his mother, mistresses, muse and lovers. The all-star cast includes heavyweights like Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Fergie and Kate Hudson, directed by Rob Marshall (who won over the Academy’s hearts with the razzle dazzle musical “Chicago” back in 2002) from a script by the late, Oscar winning director and writer Anthony Minghella.
They certainly don’t make them like this very often anymore, and in an Oscar year that is boasting a lot strong, independent pictures, it may just be the film’s star power and old fashioned showmanship that puts it at the head of the pack.
