Nicole Kidman & Judi Dench in NINE

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Nicole Kidman's rare performance where I thought she was absolutely sensational was Baz Luhrmann's movie Moulin Rouge and according to The Hollywood Reporter she will be looking to replicate that kind of success for Nine, Rob Marshall's adaptation of the Tony-Award winning musical based upon the famous Fellini movie 8 1/2. The trades say Kidman andBritish vet Judi Dench are in final talks to join the movie which is slated for a September start. Originally it was due to film in March but with the WGA strike and the failing health of the now late Anthony Minghella (he was doing re-drafts late last year) that became impossible and it had to be pushed back.

Javier Bardem leads the film as a film director who must juggle the lives of various women in his busy and stressful life. Penelope Cruz, Marillon Cotillard and Sophia Loren will play three of the women and if Kidman joins that will be four.

Marshall was the director who brought us the 2002 musical adaptation of Chicago and also Memoirs of a Geisha. I know nothing of the play except for the fact that I hope it's different enough in tone to the film because if it's not, I won't be able to help comparing it to Fellini - and I doubt Marshall's film would survive such scrutiny.