Variety is reporting that director/choreographer Rob Marshall and uber-producer Harvey Weinstein have started putting together a cast for Nine, a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Javier Bardem was just offered the role of director Guido Contini, who "experiences a creative and personal crisis as he tries to balance all the women in his life." The musical was inspired by Federico Fellini's classic 8 1/2, and the Contini role was originated onstage by the great Raul Julia. In its recent Broadway revival, Contini was played by Antonio Banderas. I love Bardem, but I have to wonder why Banderas isn't reprising his role here. He played the part in 2003 and he still looks like a million bucks, so the reason can't be that he's gotten too old. Curious.

Regardless, the real appeal of this film is going to be its women. If Marshall gets his first choices, this will be one beautiful cast. Marion Cotillard (Russell Crowe's love interest in A Good Year) is set to play Contini's wife. Penelope Cruz, whom I never thought too highly of until her terrific work in Volver, is in talks to play Contini's mistress, Carla. Marshall hopes to sign his Chicago co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones to play "the director's muse." Zeta-Jones isn't signed yet, but judging by what she told MTV's Movie Blog last month, she's a done deal. Said Jones, "I'd read the phone book with Rob Marshall. To put a musical in a director's hands, for me it can only be [him]." Marshall is also trying to get Sophia Loren, one of the sexiest women of all time, on board to play Contini's mother, who comes to Contini as a ghost. Michael Tolkin, best known for adapting his novel The Player for Robert Altman, is adapting the script. I'm no fan of Marshall, I thought Chicago was insanely overrated, and Mem-Snores of a Geisha was agony to sit through. Still, I dig musicals and it'd be great to see all of these gorgeous women on the big screen at once.

Raul Julia would have been 66 years old today. He died in 1994 after a long battle with cancer. Even in his fifties, he looked fabulous. I never thought someone could portray Gomez Addams as being so ... attractive. I am particularly fond of his role as Kalibanos in Paul Mazursky's 1982 movie Tempest. But Julia was riveting to watch even in the lamest films.

The above photo is from a stage performance: Julia played one of the leads in Two Gentlemen of Verona on Broadway in 1971. Look at how delightfully geeky he is! Can you believe this is the actor from Kiss of the Spider Woman? Perhaps this is a lesson to many of us not to despair of our looks, because it is possible to grow sexier in appearance as we age. Or, more likely, Julia was such a good actor that he could come across as sexy, nerdy, or unappealingly grungy - whatever was necessary for the role.

Incidentally, the still is from an excellent digital photo collection on the New York Public Library site, which I definitely recommend visiting. It includes some fascinating images: the Broadway production of Auntie Mame, a striking shot of a younger Lily Tomlin, and other goodies.