Sophia Loren took time out for her rehearsals in London for the musical broadway hit, turned film “Nine” which is directed by Rob Marshall, to attend a function in a top London restaurant.

Sophia was spotted with the Black Eye Peas, Fergie, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, and Kate Hudson. Loren is penciled in to play Federico Fellini’s mother in the upcoming movie.

”He wanted me in the film and I’m very happy to be in it,” said the Sophia, 74, who has not been in a film since 2004.

Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Day-Lewis also have roles in the film.

The movie’s story revolves around two archaeologists who are competing to snag an ancient Greek statue on the bottom of the Aegean Sea. The statue, as the name of the movie suggests, is that of a boy on a dolphin. Ladd is the honest, academic one, who wants to get the statue to further the goals of archaeology in the region.

Webb, on the other hand, is an unscrupulous and rich figure who wants the statue just to stick it in his own private collection. And unfortunately, Loren plays a diver who managed to find the statue and is looking to sell it to Webb - though, fortunately for Ladd, she falls for him romantically.

Hopper had joyful things to say about Cruz in particular, likening her to film icon Sophia Loren (who, obviously, is the star of this site). According to a story by Metro.co.uk, Hopper had this to say about Cruz:

“For the first time, I really looked at her as a woman - she’s like a Sophia Loren, she’s like this earth mother who has power. I was really impressed with her when I saw the film.”

Good stuff. And he had much to say about Kingsley, with whom Hopper shared many a scene. But since this is a Sophia Loren site, we won’t focus on that so much.

Elegy is in theaters now. Go check it out and see if Cruz lives up to Loren.

In the first tale Loren is a woman who stays out of jail for her troubles by constantly remaining pregnant through the help of Mastroanni (who would refuse?). In the second they play a pair of lovers who meet in secret and who must work out all their problems in a car. And, in the third, Loren plays a hooker looking to help a neighbor get back to their seminary. Mastroanni plays one of her johns who she enlists to help.

The film managed to do quite well, winning an Academy Award, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

In an open letter in late June 2008 Sofia asked that Silvio Berlusconi and his government follow through on their promise to clean up the trash problem in Naples and surrounding cities. Berlusconi was vowed to do so within three years, but that time frame must not be enough for Loren.

Naples has been plagued with a trash problem since at least 1994, having endured a constantly renewing ‘waste disposal state of emergency’ every year since then. Investigations are underway to curtail the garbage pileup and clear up the companies responsible for sanitation concerns.

Even at 72 Loren had no problem posing semi-nude for a variety of shots on last year’s Pirelli Calendar, a yearly and rather famous time keeper well known for taking popular actresses and putting them into sexy poses. Loren was by far the oldest contributor to the calendar, though age did nothing to dull her beauty in any of the shots.

Even more remarkable, given the shallowness of society these days, is the fact that Loren has had no plastic surgery done whatsoever. Her body is completely natural in every shot. That just goes to show that a fake nose here and a breast job there is not the essence of beauty: rather, it’s attitude. And Loren obviously has the right attitude.

Check out her photos below:

Directed by Peter Ustinov, Lady L tells the story of an old woman named Louise reminiscing on her past as a laundress for a whorehouse (played, of course, by Loren).There she meets Armand (played by Newman), a charming man who nevertheless has a mean streak as a bomb-hurling anarchist. She nevertheless becomes his mistress in short order.

While Armand is away in Switzerland on an anarchical mission to kill a prince, however, Louise meets another man in the form of Dicky, a British lord. He seeks her hand in marriage, and though Louise is hesitant, Dicky offers to save Armand from the clutches of the police in exchange for her consent. She agrees, but only on the condition that she be allowed to see Armand again.

The two were attending a dinner party and Mansfield, in an attempt to draw attention to herself and away with Loren, wore an incredibly low-cut dress that revealed the cleavage she was justly famous for. While posing for a picture with Loren Mansfield leaned over, her bosom nearly spilled out of her dress. A tiny bit of one nipple can be seen in the picture.

Loren, accordingly, looks rather disgusted in the picture, ignoring the camera and instead giving Mansfield’s breasts an icy glare of contempt. And to be honest you can’t really blame her.

Unfortunately their extensive relationship (They were married twice, once from 1957 to 1962 and again from 1966 to 2007) was cut short recently when Ponti died at the age of 94.

The pair met in 1950 when Ponti was judging a beauty contest. He subsequently cast her in a few roles that led them to becoming close. He tried to divorce his first wife and marry Loren by proxy; however Italian courts at the time would not allow it, and they were forced to deny being married in 1960. They were formally married after becoming citizens of France in 1965.