Daniel Day-Lewis’ mum was “delighted” Sophia Loren was playing his on-screen mother.
Pic: Daniel Day Lewis
The double Oscar-winner – who stars as an Italian film director Guido Contini in the hotly-anticipated musical movie ‘Nine’ – said his mum, who has since passed away, approved of the casting choice but didn’t get to see the film before she died.
In one poignant scene of the Rob Marshall film, Daniel dances with the Italian acting legend Sophia Loren, who plays the ghost of his character’s mother.
Daniel told Time Out magazine: “Oh, I enjoyed that! My own mum passed away last year and I’m sorry she didn’t get to see this film, but she was so tickled at the idea of Sophia playing my mum.
“She was delighted. She wouldn’t have approved of all the people who have been my mum over the years! But that one scored a real hit.”
The 52-year-old actor also revealed that he hadn’t been a big fan of musicals but slowly changed his mind after seeing recent singing-and-dancing productions.
He said: “I hadn’t been a follower of musicals, to say the least. ‘Mary Poppins’, I loved that as a kid, but then there was a huge gap.
“If somebody had put a musical in front of me, I’d have thought… why are you singing? Don’t do that, just get on with the story, then I saw ‘Moulin Rouge’, which I loved and then ‘Chicago’. It seemed there really was still work to be done.”
