A musical rumor–Harvey Weinstein drops Johnny Depp's name for the lead in NINE

Now that Johnny Depp is toplining a major musical in Tim Burton’s SWEENEY TODD, he’s popping up on producers’ wish lists for musical films as well as dramas and comedies. Case in point: Harvey Weinstein’s planned film of the Tony-winning Broadway musical NINE. NINE is based on Fellini’s classic film 8 1/2, and focuses on the midlife crisis and complex romantic entanglements of a great director (not unlike Fellini himself). The role of Guido garnered Tony nominations for the late Raul Julia in 1982, and Johnny’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO co-star Antonio Banderas in the 2003 Broadway revival. Weinstein has CHICAGO director Rob Marshall on board. “There are roles for six women in the movie who have to be beautiful and sing and dance . . . it’s a terrible assignment to cast this,” Weinstein told reporters, but director Marshall interjected, “Thrilling!” For the six major female roles, Weinstein says, “I’m thinking Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger.” Asked how he’ll pay all the A-list actresses’ salaries, Weinstein told the New York Post, “We’ll figure it out.” And for the role of Guido? Weinstein and Marshall are said to be considering George Clooney, Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas and (you guessed it) Johnny Depp. Thanks to Gilbert’s Girl for this juicy rumor–while it’s not likely we’ll find Johnny on board, it will be interesting to see how Weinstein handles the math for NINE. –Part-Time Poet

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