The last time we were treated to the vocal stylings of Kate Hudson — really more of a warbled rendition of “You’re So Vain” in 2003’s “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days” — we didn’t necessarily want more. But the actress executes an impressive double play as she shimmies and croons (soulfully, might we add) in Rob Marshall’s latest film, “Nine.”
As one of the seven big-name beauties gracing Marshall’s epic musical about the midlife crisis of a prolific 1960s Italian film director, Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), Hudson shares the limelight with a constellation of muses: Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson and Sophia Loren. She plays Stephanie, a sultry American, Vogue journalist, smitten with all things Italian — Contini included.
Even though Hudson certainly exudes mystique during her catchy, pop-tinged number, “Cinema Italiano,” it didn’t necessarily come naturally. “I’ve come out of a contemporary jazz background but there are no flexed feet or pirouettes here,” she admits. “It’s a very difficult song to sing — fast, articulate and belty. It took Rob [Marshall] to sort of push that out of me … and I wasn’t going to let him down.”
