Les Miserables (2012) film adaptation of the musical

Noooo, that was a film based off of a book.

Adaptation Displacement

If that ever happens ( and i sure hope it does) then i can sure imagine people leaving the theater with Master of the House stuck in their heads.

Is anyone else kind of hoping they, say, do something like change the ending so that Eponine gets Marius, just to watch the fandom implode?

Add a time travel Framing Device just to get it banned in China. No other reason.

Of course, Montparnasse IS a Time Lord...

Hugh Jackman is attached to star and Paul Bettany is in talks to play Inspector Javert. Russell Crowe also wants the role.

Who wants to bet that Bettany wins out (Hooper wanted him to play King George in The King's Speech)?

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I swear to God, I really hope Paul Bettany turns down the role, he's all kinds of wrong for Javert.

Russell Crowe won the part. Also, the film has been scheduled for December 7th, 2012.

This is going to be another film adaptation where no one can sing, isn't it?

Hugh Jackman is a trained singer and Russell Crowe has done some singing as well (Your Mileage May Vary on the latter though).

Russell Crowe was the singer in a band.

He can sing. Whether he can sing at all well is a different question.

As things stand, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway are the only "confirmed" cast members (as Valjean, Javert and Fantine respectively).

...Had no idea either of them had singing experience. Interesting.

Jackman was an Australian musical theatre performer before he became a Hollywood star. He starred in the Peter Allen jukebox musical 'Boy from Oz', 'Sunset Boulevard' and Gaston in 'Beauty and the Beast'. Crowe has a rock band with some friends. Hathaway has a reasonably pretty voice and can hold a tune.

More casting news: Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thenardiers (both of whom obviously were in Tom Hooper's The King's Speech too) . Half the fandom is going pre-emptively batshit over Bonham Carter complaining that she was shit in Sweeney Todd ergo she will be shit in this. This casting makes Rush the guy who has been in two kinds of film versions of Les Miserables, a talkie and a musical, which I think is kind of cool.

edited 13th Sep '11 4:31:00 PM by raisingirl83

She was shit in Sweeney Todd? I wonder what movie I was watching, then.

Musical theatre forums are scary places.

I suspect if you spend a lot of time watching award-winning professionally trained singers, movie stars will pale in contrast, even if they do pretty well by layman standards.

And I think I actually saw Hugh Jackman on stage. I'm pretty certain he was Gaston when I saw Beauty and the Beast, and he was the best one in the show.

I think half the reason HBC is disliked for her Sweeney Todd performance is because she was nothing like the character in the play, being much more subdued where she is meant to be very over the top. The other half is probably the amount of auto-tuning they had to do to get her singing voice right.

While I'm not sure that much can be done in the latter, the former is probably due to direction, as most of Sweeney was quite subdued and turned from a black comedy into a pretty dark, dismal film. So long as Hooper directs the Thenardiers to be over the top, I'm sure that HBC can act the sort of comic villainy that the film needs.

Everyone wants to be Gaston. Even when taking a dump.

HBC's too hot to me Mme T. I'm pretty sure Hugo compares Mme T. to an elephant, whereas HBC is... yeah... It'll be weird seeing Mme T. as likely the most attractive character in the thing; Cosette and Fantine are pretty but in a classy "good girls should be like this" sort of way, whereas Eponine is an Unkempt Beauty.

Pretty much all the characters are being played too hot (and too prominent) of actors. None of the characters, aside from Cosette and Marius, are supposed to be particularly good-looking.

I don't think I'll see it. I loved the musical, but the problem with casting people like Crowe and Jackman is that when you watch them, you're aware that you're watching Crowe and Jackman rather than just watching the characters.

I love the book. I love the musical. I can't watch Wolverine play Jean Valjean.

edited 23rd Sep '11 4:03:24 PM by WarriorEowyn

Don't think I've seen anyone more miscast than HBC.

When she's cast correctly, though, she's awesome. See Fight Club and...

well, actually, that's pretty much it. I never liked her much in the Harry Potter movies even, actually.

Well, it's not just Marius and Cosette. Straight from Hugo, Fantine was pretty before she fell into destitution, Eponine is an Unkempt Beauty, and Enjolras looks like the Greek god Apollo.

But Mme. T. looks like an elephant.

edited 23rd Sep '11 7:33:33 PM by HamburgerTime