I keep forgetting that Daniel Day Lewis was cast as President Abraham Lincoln in the mini-series film version of Team of Rivals. That’s right – FILM. I also keep thinking it’s going to be a mini-series. Originally, I thought director Steven Spielberg wanted Liam Neeson to be Lincoln, correct? But DDL ended up getting the part, and Spielberg and DDL are filming right now in Richmond, VA. Some Richmond spy snapped this photo and put it up on his Twitter page. While Daniel isn’t in costume as Lincoln, he seems to be sporting his Lincoln makeup and wiglet. Thoughts on Daniel’s current transformation? DDL’s version of Lincoln is hot, right? Am I supposed to think Lincoln is erotic? Because now I do.
Sidenote to CB: we should totally drive down to Richmond and try to bone Daniel Day Lewis (while he’s in his Lincoln makeup and wiglet). Are you up for it?
The film (NOT mini-series) will be called Lincoln, although it’s not an epic bio-pic – it really is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals, and it will show Lincoln in the last four months of his life, before he was assassinated in 1865. Would you like to know who else is in the film? Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln‘s son Robert Todd Lincoln, and Tommy Lee Jones as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, the famous abolitionist. Other actors appearing in as-yet unknown parts – John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, David Strathairn, Jackie Earle Haley and David Oyelowo. OMG, David Strathairn! Strathairn and Daniel Day Lewis in the same film!!! I’m totally driving down to Richmond, with or without CB. SEXY ROAD TRIP.
Header photo courtesy of Twitter user @UVAMichael and Slashfilm. Additional pics by WENN.
Last night was the New York premiere of Nine, and the entire cast (minus Sophia Loren) turned out to support the film. There was some good fashion, some bad fashion, and there was Daniel Day-Lewis is damn fedora. After the Madonna and Lourdes appearance, the biggest fashion statement of the night was probably Nicole Kidman.
Nicole decided to forgo the dust ruffle and opted for a rather gorgeous black strapless knee-length dress. I love, love, love the dress, but I have two complaints: first, Nicole should has gotten a better fit on the bust, because it’s cut so tight, her breasts are nearly being sliced in half. Second point: powder much?
As far as the other cast members went, there was really no one that special. Daniel wore his fedora and trench coat, Fergie and Marion Cotillard wore pretty white dresses, Dame Judi looked regal and lovely, and Penelope continues to bore the hell out of me. Kate Hudson did bring her mom to the premiere, and they both looked like they had been drinking.
Also, last night the Nine cast appeared on Larry King Live, and only three interesting things happened. One, Daniel Day-Lewis still rocks my loins. Two, Judi Dench said her 12-year-old grandson is “in love” with Fergie. And three, when Larry asked Kate Hudson about Alex Rodriguez, she said he was doing fine, and smiled, not denying or admitting that the two had broken up. Fascinating!
Nicole Kidman and the cast of ‘Nine’ on the red carpet for the New York premiere on December 15, 2009. Credit: WENN.
Last night was the London premiere of Nine, the musical spectacular starring Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Fergie and Sophia Loren. Everybody but Sophia, Marion and Fergie showed up for the big premiere, and there was some amazingly sketchy fashion happening. I’ve never really realized it before, but Kate Hudson’s fashion sense is really hit-or-miss, isn’t it? She either really gets it right, or she looks terrible. Now, I don’t really think Kate looks horrible here, she just looks overdressed, cold and uncomfortable. The dress would have been stunning on someone like Nicole Kidman, but it doesn’t look right on Kate:
Meanwhile, Nicole kind of underdressed. A simple yet gorgeous white suit with a short pleated skirt. It looks very summery, doesn’t it? She looks really cold too. I bet she wished she would have opted for a smart pantsuit. Oh, and the closeup of Nicole’s face is really frightening. I think she got a little “extra” put into her face for the premiere. Yikes.
Now, I love some Daniel Day-Lewis, but the man has been dressing like a spaghetti-western extra ever since he did There Will Be Blood. What’s strange is that the costumes for that film looked nothing like the kind of costume-y apparel Daniel favors. Still, I love him. He’s lovely and interesting to look at.
I swear I’ve seen Penelope wear this exact same dress before. If memory serves, it was about ten years ago, it was Versace, and it was to… the Golden Globes, maybe. In any case, it’s a pretty dress. Penelope’s fashion sense tends to go for the princess-y. Which is fine. It’s just not my taste. But her hair and makeup looks great.
And last but certainly not least in any way, we have Judi Dench. Do you know how much I love Judi? I love her so much I forgive this fug baby-puke color. You know why? Judi is so f-cking fabulous, she pulls it off rather well. The color looks great, and it really pops against her beautiful white-blonde hair. Lovely.
Yeah… my pick for best dressed is Judi. Penelope loses points for wearing either the same dress, or nearly the same dress. Kate loses points for looking so uncomfortable. Nicole loses points for her face. All in all… a great red carpet!
The cast of Nine at the London premiere. Credit for all: WENN.
We all know Daniel Day Lewis is a strange (yet hot) bird. His big film role this year is as Italian director Guido in Nine, where he’s surrounded by the Oscar-winning likes of Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz. As a matter of fact, only two of the main “women” are non-Oscar winners – Kate Hudson and Fergie, who plays a prostitute Guido knew in childhood. Fergie also sings (kills, in a good way) “Be Italian”, the first song that was released on the first trailer. As Fergie is out promoting Nine, she admitted to feeling out of her element of the film set, but says Daniel Day Lewis would write her beautiful little encouraging notes, in character as Guido. Isn’t that sweet?
Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie discovered first-hand the method acting madness of her ‘Nine’ co-star Daniel Day-Lewis when she received love letters from the eccentric actor written as his character Guido. “Daniel is very charming. I’d go into my dressing room, and I’d find this little note. I’d open it, and it would be Guido’s stationary. He would write me little notes as Guido. They were very cute and very charming,” Fergie revealed at a press conference on November 15 at The Waldorf Astoria in New York.
Billed as Stacy Ferguson, Fergie makes her film debut playing the Italian vamp Saraghina performing the song ‘Be Italian’ as she taunts and teases the filmmaker Guido as a young boy. She dove into the world of ‘Nine’ watching every variation of the Federico Fellini film ’8 1/2,’ but her preparation for the role couldn’t subside the nervousness she felt joining A-list actresses Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench.
She recalls, “Going into this musical, I’m definitely the singer coming into this A-list acting world, so it was intimidating for me flying over and knowing that I was going to be amongst these people who were at the top of their game in their field. I thought maybe I’ll just sit in the corner and kind of be a sponge and not speak and watch how they hone their craft.”
But Fergie had to push aside her fears quickly. “The first person I met was Daniel. It was 15 minutes later where I had to belt out the song right in front of him. I’ve admired his work for years, and I just had to push through it and say, ‘What the hell.’ I was very hungry for this role, and I went after it. I definitely have caught the bug because it’s another way to express yourself, and I’m an artist.”
‘Nine’ will open in limited theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 18th and nationwide December 4th.
That’s how hardcore method actor Daniel is – he gets stationary in his characters’ names and leaves in-character notes for his costars. He’s amazing. Daniel also told Oprah last week that he watched all of the girls rehearse – he would just sit in a corner, in character as Guido, and watch them all do their stuff. That’s pretty amazing too. As far as Fergie’s first movie role second movie role and everything, I’m only judging her from the one song and the trailers, but I think she knocked it out of the park. She looks different, and her voice is amazing. In a few months, will it be “Fergie, Oscar Nominee”?
Here’s Fergie singing “Be Italian” in the first Nine trailer:
Fergie on the red carpet for the AMAs on November 21, 2009. Also, stills of Fergie and Daniel Day Lewis from ‘Nine’. Credit: WENN. Additional screen caps of Fergie in character.
My mother and I were talking about Daniel Day-Lewis the other day, and I was surprised to learn that she doesn’t find him sexy. My mom’s favorites are men like James Garner, Jack Nicholson, and George Clooney, if, in my mom’s words, “he’s not being so boring and artsy-fartsy like he was in Solaris”. Daniel Day-Lewis is dark and brooding, he’s got the accent, he seems like a decent family man in real life, and he’s got talent oozing out of his pores. What’s not to love? Well, my mom thinks he’s a “strange bird” and he seems “off”. To me, however, Daniel is the total package – I love his voice, I love his talent, I love the strange way he dresses (he really does have style!) and I love the way he looks. He’s not a pretty man, like, say Robert Pattinson. But there’s something beautiful about him, I find.
You know who else has a crush on Daniel? Oprah! I finally saw Daniel’s interview on Oprah to promote Nine, and Oprah had to stop herself mid-question to say “you’re so cute!” He is, too. I even like him with the full head of grey hair. Sigh… here’s part of Oprah’s interview with Daniel:
Next up is Daniel’s interview with The Daily Mail. It’s actually a really great piece, and Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, and Nicole Kidman are interviewed as well. Since I don’t care about those bitches (no… I do, I just want to talk about Daniel), I’ll just give you Daniel’s part of the interview. He’s amazing.
Daniel Day-Lewis has portrayed all manner of hard men in his career: warriors, a boxer, thugs. But the thought of playing a song-and-dance man frightened the life out of him.
Rob Marshall, who made the Oscar-winning Chicago, was determined to secure Day-Lewis to play Guido Contini, an Italian film director suffering a creative and personal crisis in the film musical Nine, certainly one of the year’s best movies and, believe me, the sexiest.
‘Guido is four or five days away from shooting a film and he hasn’t a f***ing idea in his head,’ Daniel told me in Manhattan this week. ‘I did say to Robin the early stages: “Is there any way of getting out of this? I have a list of actors who could do it tomorrow!” He tried to convince me I could sing and I said: “You’ve no idea if I can sing or not!”‘
Day-Lewis said the last time he’d sung publicly was when he was in the local church choir when he was a child.
‘I sang feebly a couple of times, and on the grounds of that Rob managed to convince me it was worth pursuing,’ he continued, adding that dancing was out of the question. ‘I know dancers, and I know what they have to do with their bodies. I can do a lot of stuff: I can climb, I can run, I can cycle, I can box. But I can’t dance.’
I’ve seen Nine twice and Day-Lewis doesn’t do a lot of dancing – but his Guido moves with a dancer’s grace. He laughs when I tell him this, eyeing me as if I’d had a few drinks with breakfast.
‘I used a lot of 3-In-1 to lubricate those stiff old joints,’ joked Day-Lewis, 52. ‘It’s not natural grace – that’s sheer effort of will. Like a lot of ageing athletes, I tend to be creaky. I work at staying looser, but my limbs are a mass of scar tissue through years of doing things I shouldn’t have.’
Ultimately, what swung it for him was Marshall’s enthusiasm. ‘Rob’s principal weapon in his armoury is the weapon of constant encourangement,’ he said. ‘It somehow makes you believe this thing isn’t completely beyond your reach.’
While he was finding his singing voice (a rich baritone, by the way), he was able to study why Guido found himself locked in a wasteland of his own making. In his head, all the important women in Guido’s life swirl about in a jumble of fantasy, memory and reality. But at its heart, the film is all about winning back the love of one woman: his wife.
Daniel watched all of his leading ladies rehearse. He would dress in character and sit in a corner for hours and simply observe. Danny Boyle, who directed Slumdog Millionaire, wanted Day-Lewis to play Henry Higgins in the much talked about new My Fair Lady film, but Boyle left the project when he was not able to secure the actor’s services.
Day-Lewis is not keen to talk about it. ‘I feel that until this (Nine) has moved along, I can’t contemplate doing something else,’ he told me.
Daniel Day-Lewis as Henry Higgins? I would f-cking die. Previously, I’ve felt very strongly that My Fair Lady did not need to be remade. But Daniel as Prof. Higgins. Oh, yes. Yes, dear God. That would be incredible. If you’d like to see the first trailer released from Nine, go here. There’s a second one with Kate Hudson too - and she sounds good. But here’s the rehearsal footage/montage from Nine:
Stills from ‘Nine’ courtesy of WENN. Additional photos of Daniel at LAX on November 18, credit: Michael Wright/WENN.com
What in God’s name is happening with Vogue’s November cover?!? This is one of the most hellish, budget, ugly messes I’ve ever seen. The cover story is all about the women of Nine, which will likely be one of the biggest movies of the awards season. Nine stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Stacey “Fergie” Ferguson, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Sophia Loren, amongst others. For such a major film, it’s no surprise Vogue decided to put some of the more prominent leading ladies on the cover. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no way that Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Kate Hudson were all at the same location at the same time for the cover shoot.
It looks like they just cut-and-pasted Nicole Kidman on the end, and what’s with the totally weird lighting on every single woman? Marion looks like she has a spotlight on her, while Penelope looks half-shadowed. Meanwhile, Kate looks like she smelled something. Yikes. Ten bucks says this shot is by Annie Leibovitz, and twenty says she is not happy with it. Plus, Nine takes place in Rome – why not do a fashion shoot in Rome? Why do these women have to be looking pissy at the beach?
Anyway, Vogue hasn’t put up the cover story online yet, but they do have an interesting feature – nine great looks from each of the cover ladies. I tend to think that would have been a better cover – just put older images from these ladies, and jam them together on the cover. Or, better yet, just put the immortal Daniel Day-Lewis on the cover and call it a day. Out of the whole cast, I’d say Daniel has the best shot at winning an Oscar for Nine. Sigh. And now I’m looking forward to Daniel’s press.
Daniel Day Lewis has won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in “There Will Be Blood.” Lewis has already won the award for “My Left Foot” and was nominated for “Gangs of New York” and “In the Name of the Father.” Lewis was heavily favored for his tour-de-force performance in the film, and his “I Drink Your Milkshake!” line delivery is becoming legendary.
It’s a mark of a great screen performance that everyone wants to get in on the act. Daniel Day-Lewis’s Oscar-nominated lead in There Will Be Blood is rapidly becoming the most-imitated Hollywood turn since Jack Nicholson’s “Heeeere’s Johnny!” or even De Niro’s “You talkin’ to me?”. Everyone has their own favourite riff to mimic from Day-Lewis’s monstrous oilman Daniel Plainview: for some, it’s that strange shuffle from the final scene; for others, the furiously bellowed “I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!” – a line that’s been honoured with its own website.
That the performance has been seized upon as a buffs’ in-joke is just testament to the respect it has generally inspired, and if Day-Lewis wins the Best Actor award tonight, few will demur. Few, but certainly some: there are numerous internet forums dedicated to the “genius-or-ham?” debate.
For my money, Day-Lewis’s performance fits both the role and the film, which is conceived less like a realistic drama than some dark modernist opera. It’s the second time that Day-Lewis has acted in such an extravagant register: he was even more barnstorming in Gangs of New York.
I was not surprised Lewis won, but I was secretly rooting for George Clooney, for his restrained but earnest work in “Michael Clayton.” I tend to find Lewis’ work a bit over the top, but I can’t judge in this case because I haven’t seen the film yet. Lewis thanked his family and colleagues, calling out his wife specifically, referring to her as Mrs. Plainview:
That’s the closest I’ll every come to getting knighted… A deepest thanks to the members of the Academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town, I’m looking at this gorgeous thing that you’ve given me, and I’m thinking back to the first whisper of a devilish idea that came to him and everything since, and it seems to me it sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson. I wish my son and my partner HW Plainview were up here with me the mighty Dillon Frasier. So many people to thank, one amongst them would be Mrs. Plainview down there, the enchantingly optimistic, open minded and beautiful Rebecca Miller. I hope that all those to whom… I owe the deepest gratitude will forgive me if I just say “thank you all”… I would like to accept this in the memory of my grandfather… my father Cecile Day Lewis and my three fine boys Gabriel, Ronan and Cashel.
[Transcript of Daniel Day Lewis' Acceptance Speech]
“There Will Be Blood” has also picked up a Best Cinematography award as well, and is up for Best Picture. Paul Thomas Anderson was nominated for Best director.
Thanks to WENN for these pictures.
Update by Celebitchy: Here’s Lewis’ flowery acceptance speech
