All star cast confirmed for "Nine"

All star cast confirmed for the cinematic version of Nine, a Tony-award winning Broadway musical. Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard (Guido's wife), Nicole Kidman (Claudia, Guido's muse and protege), Penelope Cruz (Contini's sexy mistress Carla), Sophia Loren (Guido's mother) and Judi Dench (Guido's agent) to star.

The 1982 musical, inspired by the film 8½, is about a fictional famous film director Guido Contini savoring his most recent (and greatest) success. He is facing his fortieth birthday and a midlife crisis which blocks his creative impulses and entangles him in a web of romantic difficulties. While trying to complete his latest film, his main problem is that he has too many women in his life.

Kidman is due to give birth in the summer, giving her several months of maternity leave before the film's proposed start date. Her filming also might be scheduled in the latter part of the shoot.

The project was slated to begin principal photography in March but was postponed when the late writer-director Anthony Minghella didn't have enough time to rework Michael Tolkin's screenplay before Hollywood writers went on strike last November. Extra work was needed to coordinate the choreography and Maury Yeston's music and lyrics with a new draft. The musical will be directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed the 2003 hit musical Chicago. Nine rehearsals start in London on July 28 with shooting to commence September 29, with a 2009 release date.

I expect Nine will clean up at the 82nd Academy Awards®!