Attempting to recreate the box office award-nabbing glory of Chicago, The Weinstein Company has grabbed Michael Tolkin to script their adaptation of the musical Nine.
Tolkin, who’s still best known for writing The Player (but last got a screen credit for Changing Lanes) be working with Rob Marshall to turn the 1982 musical into a movie.
Most recently staged in 2003 with Antonio Banderas in the lead, the tune-packed show takes as its inspiration Fellini’s 8 ½, which should go down perfectly with today’s multiplex crowd…
Tolkin, though, is undeterred, and wants to make sure we all appreciate just why the musical was so good: “On 500 channels of cable and satellite, the classic Italian cinema is lost for the young people of today," he said. "It was the era of skinny ties and the original cool sunglasses."
There’s no word on casting yet – though Banderas must surely be an early favourite for the lead – but Marshall is busy looking for suitably musical types to get the film moving.
