Line #15 Trivia/LesMiserables2012


1	* ActorInspiredElement: It was Creator/EddieRedmayne who suggested that he begin "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" a capella.
2	* AllStarCast: Creator/HughJackman (Valjean), Creator/RussellCrowe (Javert), Creator/AnneHathaway (Fantine), Creator/SachaBaronCohen (Thénardier), Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (Mme. Thénardier), Creator/EddieRedmayne (Marius), Creator/AmandaSeyfried (Cosette), Samantha Barks (Éponine), and Creator/AaronTveit (Enjolras). In addition, Colm Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne while Frances Ruffelle and many other former cast members have cameos.
3	* {{Blooper}}:
4	** When Fantine leads her first John to a ship for sex, her shawl appears and disappears between shots.
5	** At the start of One Day More, Eponine pulls out Marius's letter to Cosette. The closeup shows that the letter is wet. The wide shot shows that it is dry and brand new.
6	** When Enjolras is shot dead, he holds up a red banner with just one hand. As he falls out of the window, he is holding it with both hands.
7	* CostumeBacklash: Anne Hathaway was not acting during the scene of Fantine's TraumaticHaircut, where she became so distressed after the first bit was cut, they had to swap Nicola Sloane out for the actress's personal hairdresser. Years later, she also admitted that the weight she lost to portray Fantine's poverty was a bad idea and gave her lingering health problems.
8	* CreatorBacklash: Amanda Seyfried stated in 2021 that she regretted her performance as Cosette, and found her singing so weak that after the film she worked harder to strengthen her voice.
9	--> "I wish I could redo ‘Les Misérables’ completely because the live singing aspect, I still have nightmares about it."
10	* DeletedScene: Much more of the wedding scene was shot instead of the Thenardiers simply being thrown out on their ear.
11	* DisownedAdaptation: Creator/PattiLuPone, who originated the role of Fantine in London, was not partial to how Tom Hooper chose to shoot the film. She especially disliked his decision to film “I Dreamed a Dream” in extreme closeup, but didn’t go so far as to criticise Creator/AnneHathaway’s performance.
12	* DyeingForYourArt:
13	** For the film Creator/AnneHathaway had her hair cut short on camera and lost 25 pounds to make it look like she was dying. She refused to say how she lost so much weight in fear that other women would attempt her near-fatal methods for superficial reasons - but revealed years later she only ate a tiny portion of dried oatmeal paste a day for two weeks.
14	** Creator/HughJackman lost 30 pounds (even recreating the diet that Valjean would have had in prison), shaved his head, and grew a scraggly beard for the scenes where Valjean was a convict, even going 36 hours without water. Even more amazing is that he was exercising heavily while still not eating, on Wrestling/DwayneJohnson's advice, because he had to shoot ''Film/TheWolverine'' almost immediately after ''Les Mis'' and had to get ready to bulk back up in record time.
15	* EnforcedMethodActing
16	** The actors famously recorded all of their singing on-set, accompanied by an off-screen pianist via an ear piece, with the orchestral accompaniment following their vocal tracks. This allowed the filmmakers to record all of the songs in real time and helped the actors, who were typically not familiar with operatic singing, to give more naturalistic readings of their sung dialogue.
17	** According to the DVD commentary, the entire barricade building sequence was done by the actors themselves in real time, which was around 15 minutes, and the director's only instructions were four words: "Build a barricade. Action!"
18	* FakeNationality: The French characters are played by Australian, American and British actors.
19	* MemeAcknowledgment: A popular meme in the 2010s compared Javert's costume in this to the blue outfit Music/BritneySpears wore in her "Toxic" music video. Russell Crowe found it hilarious, and Britney joked that they should collaborate.
20	* MissingTrailerScene: Some scenes in the trailers, such as shots of Javert and his men running with search lanterns in hand, and Cosette, [[spoiler:who is in her wedding dress]], riding in the carriage and looking very happy, don't actually appear in the movie itself.
21	* PredecessorCastingGag: In the 2012 film version of ''[[Film/LesMiserables2012 Les Misérables]]'', Colm Wilkinson, the original stage actor who played Jean Valjean, appears as the Bishop who gives the film's version of Valjean his second chance at life by refusing to turn him in for theft and allowing him to leave with the valuables. While not a direct parental figure, his merciful actions are shown to be a constant guiding influence on the rest of Valjean's life [[spoiler:and the Bishop appears as a spirit along with Fantine to welcome Valjean into heaven at the end of the film.]]
22	* RealLifeRelative: Creator/RussellCrowe's son, Tennyson, appeared in "Do You Hear The People Sing?" as one of the street urchins, waving the red flag, with Gavroche.
23	* RoleReprise: Samantha Barks reprises her role as Éponine from the 25th anniversary concert of the West End production.
24	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: A film adaptation of the musical was discussed for many years; the 1991 souvenir program for the stage show claimed it was coming out in 1993 via [=TriStar=] Pictures. Universal Pictures was the studio that finally brought the movie to the light of day in December 2012.
25	* SelfAdaptation: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer helped co-write the film adaptation of the musical, along with William Nicholson.
26	* StarMakingRole: For Creator/EddieRedmayne. In fact, most people had never heard of him when his casting was announced (although he had also just appeared in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn''). Jackman, Crowe, Hathaway, Baron Cohen, Bonham Carter and Seyfried were all recognizable film stars, while Barks and Tveit, at least, were big names in the theater community.
27	* TypeCasting: Mme Thernardier is given a dose of AdaptationalAttractiveness to bring her more in line with Helena Bonham Carter's usual dark nutcase characters.
28	* UnderageCasting: Jean Valjean lived to be sixty-four and story begins in 1815 meaning a forty-four-year old Hugh Jackman plays him from the ages of 46-64. It is not so bad at the start but becomes really noticeable due to a general lack of attempting to make Jackman look older.
29	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
30	** The original cut is 4 hours with a 15-minute long battle sequence. But Hooper trimmed it down to 2 hours and 37 minutes which results to some songs cut with some scenes from the trailers not appearing in the final version of the movie, such as the last part of "The Confrontation" where Valjean and Javert continues singing the last stanza of the song in a form of a DistantDuet.
31	** During said last part of "The Confrontation," [[spoiler: Fantine's dead body]] would have been shown being tossed out of the hospital window and hauled away ignominiously on a cart. In an interview, [[spoiler: Creator/AnneHathaway]] talked about filming that scene. But it's not in the finished film.
32	** Before Samantha Barks reprised her role as Eponine for the film, Creator/LeaMichele, Creator/ScarlettJohansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Creator/EmilyBrowning, Creator/HaydenPanettiere, Creator/LucyHale, Creator/EvanRachelWood, and ''Music/TaylorSwift'' ([[Film/{{Cats}} of all people]]) were considered for the role.
33	** Before Creator/AnneHathaway was cast as Fantine, Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/MarionCotillard, Creator/KateWinslet, Creator/JessicaBiel, Creator/EmilyBlunt, and Creator/RebeccaHall were considered for the role.
34	** Before Creator/AmandaSeyfried was cast as Cosette, Creator/EmmaWatson, Creator/ShaileneWoodley and Creator/MirandaCosgrove auditioned for the role.
35	** Creator/RowanAtkinson, Creator/BillyCrystal, Creator/RickyGervais, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/RobinWilliams, and Creator/GeoffreyRush (who portrayed Javert in the non-musical ''Film/LesMiserables1998'') were considered for the role of Monsieur Thénardier.
36	** When the film was in DevelopmentHell for 20 years, Creator/WarrenBeatty, Creator/TomCruise, Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/MichaelDouglas, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/GeneHackman, Creator/TomHanks, Creator/DustinHoffman, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/AlPacino, Creator/RobertRedford, and Creator/ChristopherWalken were all considered for the role of Jean Valjean at different points in time.
37	** Alfie Boe auditioned for the role of Jean Valjean, having played the role for the 25th anniversary concert.
38	** Creator/PaulBettany was considered for the role of Javert.
39	** Creator/JamieCampbellBower was once rumored to play the role of Enjolras. Creator/EddieRedmayne also auditioned for the role because Creator/TomHooper wanted a young 17-year-old for the role of Marius, but he ultimately cast Redmayne as Marius and Creator/AaronTveit as Enjolras[[note]]Interestingly, Tveit is only one year younger than Redmayne[[/note]].
40	** Creator/ColinFarrell met with Creator/TomHooper to discuss playing either Valjean or Javert. It was mutually decided that he was too old for both parts.
41	* WordOfGod: In "Master of the House", Madame Thénardier replaces an outgoing guest's luggage with a basket containing a baby. It is confirmed that the baby is [[spoiler:Gavroche]].
42	* YouLookFamiliar: Most of the Amis, as well as other unnamed students that fight at the barricade, are played by young men who have played the roles of Enjolras, Marius, and other roles in the musical on West End.

Context Trivia / LesMiserables2012