Evergreen screen beauty Sophia Loren is still pointing the way for younger colleagues, the British press said Thursday.
''Sophia Loren shows her younger A-list colleagues why she's still the leading lady,'' the Daily Mail said after the Italian icon, 73, was pictured leaving a posh London eatery with Kate Hudson, 29, and Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie, 33.
Sophia Still Magnificent echoed a headline in the Evening Standard.
The soiree - also attended by La Vie en Rose star Marion Cotillard and British acting legend Judi Dench - came amid rehearsals for a new musical on the life of movie maestro Federico Fellini.
Loren recently told fans in Naples she was ''thrilled'' to be in Nine, Rob Marshall's star-studded film version of the Broadway musical of the same name.
Loren said director Marshall, who scored a big hit with the film musical Chicago in 2002, had conceived the role of Fellini's mother with her in mind.
''He wanted me in the film and I'm very happy to be in it,'' said the screen icon, 73, who hasn't made a film since 2004.
''It's every Italian's dream to be in an American musical,'' she enthused.
''I adore music and always liked seeing Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire as a kid. Musicals make you feel alive''.
Marshall has been rehearsing in London with Loren and an all-star cast that includes Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz.
