A Very Unusual Way of Casting "Nine"

The Golden Rule of Movie Musicals: Cast a bankable actor, even if he can't sing, in place of a well-received Broadway star. Sad but understandable. The Rule explains many recent casting decisions. Take Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera, Helena Bonham-Carter in Sweeney Todd, Uma Thurman in The Producers.

Wait a minute; didn't I say "bankable actor"? Did anybody attend Susan Stroman's megawatt flop to see The Bride sort of sing and sort of dance? With Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on the marquee, was Bonham-Carter a more marketable choice than names who have musical stage experience? (Here's looking at you, Meryl Streep and Toni Collette.) And did anybody know Butler before 300?

Now we have another curious exception to the Rule. Antonio Banderas led a 2003 revival of Nine. Here he is performing "Guido's Song":



Undoubtedly this revival inspired Rob Marshall to film the property. And what luck! Here was a star known to American and European audiences, with box-office success for action films, children's movies, sex thrillers... and he even sang on-screen in Evita. His Spanish accent might even pass for Italian.

So when the film was announced, how odd to see Javier Bardem's name attached. Another Spaniard known for European comedies, a recent thriller... and not for singing. When Bardem dropped out, was Banderas back in the running? No, for the role of Guido went to Daniel Day-Lewis. Why?

1. Marshall might want his own vision, separate from all previous Nines.
2. Maybe he, like Tim Burton, has grown weary of "the belting-to-the-galley type of Broadway singing."
3. The prestige factor. Six of the main actors (Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, and Sophia Loren) are Oscar-winners.

Fortunately, we'll only endure one or two songs from each. Here's the musical's songlist with the changes made:

Overture Delle Donne (Women)
Not Since Chaplin-Cut.
Guido's Song (Day-Lewis)
My Husband Makes Movies (Cotillard)
A Call from the Vatican (Cruz)
Only with You-Cut.
Follies Bergeres (Dench)
Cinema Italiano (Hudson)-Added.
Nine-Cut. Replaced with:
Guarda la Luna (Loren)-Added.
Be Italian (Fergie)
The Bells of St. Sebastian-Cut.
A Man Like You-Cut.
Unusual Way (Kidman)
The Grand Canal sequence-Cut.
Simple-Cut.
Be On Your Own-Cut. Replaced with:
Take it All (Cotillard)-Added.
I Can't Make This Movie (Day-Lewis)
Getting Tall-Cut.

As for "Unusual Way": Hard to say how Kidman's wispy vocals will fare. Most screening viewers report the song is fine, but one report says Kidman is "uncomfortable," and another says she's "the weakest of the women." Take with a grain of salt. Here, for eventual comparison, is Laura Benanti's rendition on stage (starting at 2:13):