“Nine” Is Fine, But Daniel Day Lewis Won’t See It Again

Rob Marshall’s exquisitely crafted movie musical, “Nine,” finally premiered in New York last night. It opens on Friday.

One person who saw it at the Ziegfeld premiere but won’t be coming back: star Daniel Day Lewis. “It was nerve-wracking” he said later of sitting through the premiere and watching the movie. What made him so nervous? He declined to say. But frankly, DDL makes a very convincing Guido Contini. He has nothing to worry about. And at the big party later at cavernous M2 in West Chelsea, DDL was accessible and fun. He posed for pictures with well wishers and entertained wife Rebecca Miller’s famous actress aunt, Joan Copeland, younger sister of the late Arthur Miller. DDL also got to meet legendary crooner Tony Bennett, who declared “Nine” a “masterpiece.”

Still: “That’s the one and only time I will do that,” Daniel told me, even though the audience loved him, loved “Nine,” and the ladies in it so much that they were applauding the musical numbers before they ended.

And in the audience were all the cast with the exception of Sophia Loren, who was working in Rome.

Penelope Cruz even brought boyfriend and rumored fiancee Javier Bardem, who was originally going to play Guido but backed out after his role in “No County for Old Men” exhausted him. Her favored director and pal Pedro Almodovar was also on hand.

Kate Hudson, looking like a million bucks and happier than ever without baseball star Alex Rodriguez, was accompanied by mom Goldie Hawn. When I mentioned to Goldie that Kate’s performance was reminiscent of her own on “Laugh In” back in the day, Goldie laughed and said: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!”

Fergie ‘ Stacey Ferguson ‘ of the Black Eyed Peas ‘ brings down the house in “Nine” with the movie’s showstopper “Be Italian.” Each of her parents were there, as was husband Josh Duhamel. Fergie’s dad, who owns a vineyard in beautiful Santa Ynez, California ‘ “Sideways” country ‘ was very excited about the film. He said “Fergie’s been in three movies. In each one, she gets killed. So she calls me up and says, Guess what? I’m in a movie and I don’t get killed. But what does play? A prostitute!”

Fergie is so good in “Nine” that, you read it here first, she’s going to get offers to play Broadway in a musical. Forget those Black Eyed Peas ‘ and their monster hit, “I Gotta Feeling.” Once you hear her in “Nine,” it’s clear the world is her oyster.

I also like the fact that Fergie looked so elegant with dark hair and a beautiful white Marchesa gown. When I first met Fergie years ago she came to events in hip hop regalia, with an exposed flat midriff and teased blonde locks. Grown up and married, Fergie took the microphone last night at the M2 party, made a short funny speech and introduced the new video of her and Kate Hudson making the video for “Cinema Italiano,” the Best Song nominee from “Nine.” (It was written for the movie.) Fergie announced to the crowd, “I met all those amazing women with this movie, and we’re all friends now!”

And in the crowd, both at the Ziegfeld and M2 ‘ “Nine” director Rob Marshall, other cast members Dame Judi Dench (who took a lot of good natured ribbing from Harvey Weinstein during introductions at the Zeigfeld), Nicole Kidman (whose hubby Keith Urban played Nicole’s hometown Sydney last night), and Best Actress nominee Marion Cotillard ‘ with boyfriend Guillame Canet, as well as Oliver Stone, Tommy Tune (who directed the original “Nine” on Broadway), Tobey Maguire, the Olsen twins, pop star Madonna and daughter Lourdes, Donald and Melania Trump, Bob and Lynne Balaban, Emmanuelle Chriqui (from “Entourage”), Denise Rich, and Kimora Lee Simmons and Oscar nominee (from “In America” and “Amistad”) Djimon Hounsou.

“Nine” got 10 nominations from the Critics Choice Awards (airing January 15th) and the Golden Globes gave it five more (January 17th). When the Oscar nominations are announced on February 2nd, expect a raft more for DDL, Cotillard, Cruz, and Marshall, not to mention all those technical categories and Best Song. It’s the one big, grand, glamorous entertainment of this winter.