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Post by jo on Jan 24, 2013 20:21:14 GMT -5
Patti Lupone, with her irrepressible opinions, has reacted to the " live singing" pitch made by the actors and director during the promotion of the movie.
Patti was the original Fantine in the London production ( for which she won an Olivier as Best Actress) but chose not to reprise the role on Broadway.
Jo
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Post by jo on Jan 24, 2013 20:38:18 GMT -5
USA Today publishes two articles on the reactions to Les Miserables --
this first one is an interview with Tom Hooper:
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Post by birchie on Jan 24, 2013 20:41:38 GMT -5
Patti Lupone, with her irrepressible opinions, has reacted to the " live singing" pitch made by the actors and director during the promotion of the movie. Patti was the original Fantine in the London production ( for which she won an Olivier as Best Actress) but chose not to reprise the role on Broadway. Jo I thought it was kind of weird that she hadn't seen it yet. Surely she must have had invites to screenings if nothing else...and she can probably afford a movie ticket anyway!  Sue |
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Post by jo on Jan 24, 2013 20:47:00 GMT -5
Maybe she does not want to get disappointed since Les Miserables, in a sense, is fairly close to her heart - being the original Fantine, for which she worked hard enough to win an Olivier? Of the originals, only Michael Ball has openly endorsed the movie version. We have yet to hear from Colm how he felt about the movie. I think Patti will love Hugh's portrayal -- I do remember her fangirl comments over The Boy From Oz  Jo |
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Post by jo on Jan 24, 2013 20:49:55 GMT -5
Here's the companion piece to the USA article on the interview with Tom Hoopper --
>>>
Says Adam Feldman, theater critic for Time Out New York and president of the New York Drama Critics Circle: "The film version of Les Misérables is unabashed about its musicality, sincerity and sentiment. There is nothing in quotation marks. While it is very risky to go with that, it also can be very moving. It tells its story in a form that is very dramatically and musically direct, and it can make some people uncomfortable."
It could just be that the dissenters sneer all the harder because the public doesn't give a sniff about their disdain. The only thing that critics hate more than Les Mis? Being ignored.
"People like being moved by the generosity that the suffering of others invokes in them," says Feldman. "And Les Misérables does do that. It's not Wagner. But Wagner wouldn't sell a ticket.<<<
Jo
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Post by mamaleh on Jan 24, 2013 20:54:31 GMT -5
She doesn't have to go to a movie theater. As a SAG member, she gets a screener for personal viewing at home. Very convenient--although I do think the film might lose a little of its grandeur in the absence of a wide screen. But the recipients are voting for actors, not set direction or cinematography, etc.--so hopefully that shouldn't matter.
Ellen
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Post by birchie on Jan 25, 2013 8:27:29 GMT -5
She doesn't have to go to a movie theater. As a SAG member, she gets a screener for personal viewing at home. Very convenient--although I do think the film might lose a little of its grandeur in the absence of a wide screen. But the recipients are voting for actors, not set direction or cinematography, etc.--so hopefully that shouldn't matter. Ellen But she said she hasn't seen it so that's even stranger if she is a voting member. Kind of makes me concerned about the voting!  Maybe, as Jo said, she doesn't want to be disappointed but I hope that people who don't see all the nominated performances don't vote. PS: Jo, Colm seemed very happy about the movie in that q&a he did with Hugh. Sue |
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Post by jo on Jan 31, 2013 11:30:26 GMT -5
I'm not sure if we have seen this clip of BEHIND THE SCENES for THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER cover story on Les Miserables. Interviews are only with Eddie and Samantha -- but there are many scenes as the lead cast pose for photos! www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oHdzBHpYNEkLol - I discovered this while going through James Mangold media file ( looking for some stuff on The Wolverine). Jo |
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Post by jo on Feb 1, 2013 19:09:48 GMT -5
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Post by jo on Feb 1, 2013 20:02:04 GMT -5
Great Eddie Redmayne interview, posted by Narrows on IMDB --
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SBIFF 2013: Eddie Redmayne Talks LES MISERABLES, the Crazy Audition Process, and His Vocal Performance
by Christina Radish Posted: February 1st, 2013 at 9:16 am
Working for 10 years in film and theater, British actor Eddie Redmayne is currently receiving attention and acclaim for his work as Marius in the Academy Award-nominated musical Les Misérables. Honored for that performance, he was presented with a Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), and Collider was there to cover and attend the event.
During the Q&A, the actor talked about what his crazy audition process was like, the ideas he had for his vocal performance, the thing he was most nervous about pulling off, working with co-stars Samantha Barks and Amanda Seyfried, who he’s learned the most from on set, and how the reaction they’ve gotten for the film is the greatest gift that he could ask for. Check out what he had to say after the jump.
Question: There are the legendary stories people have heard about the crazy audition process the actors went through to get in on this movie. What was that process like for you?
EDDIE REDMAYNE: I remember that I was making a film in North Carolina, playing a Texan meth addict, and I hear that Tom [Hooper] was making Les Miz. I had seen it as a kid and absolutely loved it, so I put myself on tape in my trailer, on an iPhone. I sent it to my agent, really just to say that I enjoyed singing because I hadn’t really told my agents that. So, he sent it on to the head of Working Title, and that was the start of my audition process. At that point, I knew Hugh [Jackman] was doing it, and that was it. My audition process, from then, I can only describe as like being something out of The X-Factor. It was a horrible American Idol style nightmare that involved singing these songs that you’ve grown up loving, to the people who wrote them. Claude-Michel Schönberg was the equivalent of Simon Cowell. But, what was interesting was that, even though I loved the piece, I had to come at it, having worked in film, trying to reinterpret it and sing it in a different way, with an intimacy. There was a horrible scary moment, at the end, when there was a silence in the room. But then, I got cast and started auditioning with Samantha [Barks] and Amanda [Seyfried], and various other actors and actresses. It was about getting the chemistry right.
In your heart, did you know that you had this in you, or did you surprise even yourself?
REDMAYNE: I started auditioning for Enjolras, but I think that Tom liked the idea of the students actually being 17, rather than 31. I didn’t know. I don’t think you ever quite know if you have the character in you or not. I knew I had instincts for this. There was something visceral in it. When I first sang the song to myself, in that trailer, I had an idea that, if you pulled it down and made it intimate, you would have somewhere to go and you could draw an audience in. I also came up with the idea of starting it without any accompaniment. The problem with doing musicals on film is that, the second the accompaniment starts, the audience sits back and goes, “Now, I’m ready for the song.” So, the idea of a thought being spontaneous or instinctive is instantly taken away because they’re waiting for the bit when you start. Tom and the composers allowed us to have this freedom to play with it, which Annie Hathaway did most extraordinarily.
Marius has so many tough songs with crazy range. What was the one part of this role that you were most nervous about taking on?
REDMAYNE: It’s funny you should say that. There’s a song called “In My Life.” And so much of the lyrics of this musical are brilliant, poetic, real and true, but then there are moments which are operatic. I’m this politically engaged lad, who then sees this girl and decides to throw politics to the wayside for a moment and just change his tact. It’s love at first sight. It’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s operatic in its take. In the book, their courtship is one of seven months. In the film, it’s about seven seconds. So, there’s a moment, after having literally glimpsed this girl, that he runs down a street and goes, “In my life, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun.” I said to Tom, “This bit is so florid. How do I make it work?” When we started, I tried doing it under my breath, as if it was spontaneous, and he came up to me and said, “It’s not working, mate.” I said, “Bugger!,” and he said, “This is one of those moments that’s an old school movie musical moment, where you run down a street, swinging from lamp posts, and give it your all.” So, I ended up doing that. I had to commit 110% to it. That was one of those moments where I had to let it all go, and that was weirdly one of the harder parts.
What was it like to work with Samantha Barks and Amanda Seyfried on this intense love triangle between your characters?
REDMAYNE: We got on fantastically well. It was such an amalgam of actors, this film. On the one hand, you had Amanda and I who had never done it before and who come from a film background. And then, you have Samantha, who had done it on stage to huge success and great acclaim, and she had to unlearn everything she knew. All the guys that played the students had been in the West End production of Les Miz, and on about day three of filming, I realized that 70% of them had played Marius, which was wildly terrifying. I decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, use ‘em, so I asked them for their best bits to see what I could steal. But, they were incredibly generous. They and Samantha were wonderful resources. They said, “This is how we did it on stage. This was our thought process.” None of us knew what we were doing. This singing live on film thing was new to everyone. There was a great sense of comraderie.
With all of the amazing people you’ve worked with, is there someone you feel that you’ve learned a lot from?
REDMAYNE: I find it interesting when people ask, “Who have been the most influential?” It’s not just about the work and their actual technique as actors, but it’s also how they behave, how you live on a film set, how you deal with the notion of status and stature, and how you keep yourself closed and protected, in order to do the work. And I love the variety of film. In theater, you go into a room and the director runs the room, so you all work to his or her method. On film, if an actor or an actress is in for a day or two, the director has to get out of that actor what they need, so they have to change and adapt to that actor’s technique. I’ll never forget doing Savage Grace, which was a film I did where I played Julianne Moore and Stephen Dillane’s son. Julianne is the most spontaneous, instinctive, brilliant actress, and Stephen, who’s also phenomenal, would want to talk about it and rehearse. So, it was this wonderful mixture of watching two completely different actors working completely different ways, and you in the middle, trying to learn from both of them and amalgamate the two.
Robert De Niro directed one of my first films, and the way he works is that, when he’s directing, he’ll often keep the camera rolling. You’ll do one take and finish at an emotional stature, with which you can go back to the beginning of the scene again and tap into that. And so, on “Empty Chairs, Empty Tables,” I asked Tom Hooper if we could put enough film stock in the camera to do four takes in a row. I’d get to the end of “Empty Chairs, Empty Tables” and be at an emotional place, and then try to repress all of that to start the song again. That was helpful, somehow, and [Robert De Niro] was a great influence for that.
You’ve had a great career so far, but this role and performance, in this film, has brought your fame and your fans to a whole new level. What do you like the best about that?
REDMAYNE: I don’t know. I’ve been working for 10 years, in film and theater, and it’s so interesting that there’s something that’s unplace-able about this. There’s something alchemic about some films, where you don’t know what it is, but they just fit. And then, there are other films that you think are good, that don’t have a place or don’t hit a zeitgeist. The lovely thing is when you do something you really care about, which I did with Les Miz ‘cause I saw it when I was a kid and I was one of the groupies, and I felt a great responsibility, being a part of this cast, to bring it to screen when they’d tried for 27 years, and the idea that people are reacting emotionally to it is basically the greatest gift that I could ask for.
What was the first professional acting job you ever had?
REDMAYNE: My first job was with Cameron Mackintosh, who produced Les Misérables. I was in a production of Oliver, which is a musical that he produced. I wasn’t Oliver or Dodger, which are the two big parts. I was like Workhouse Boy #63. But, it was directed by Sam Mendes. Even though I don’t think I ever met Sam Mendes, he remained on my [resume] until I actually had to go meet Sam Mendes for a job and I was a bit embarrassed. He was like, “Wait, it says here that I’ve worked with you,” and I was like, “Do you not remember my performance as Workhouse Boy #63?”
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I think Eddie would have also worked as Enjolras because he has tons of charisma, which was the strongest characteristic of the book Enjolras! He led a young group of students with his idealism and fervor...and with his persona !
Jo
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Post by girlfromrio on Feb 10, 2013 14:39:44 GMT -5
Just popping in and out quickly, this doesn't seem to have been posted yet--from a NY Times article about all the parties to go to and people to see after the Golden Globes-- With so many engagements, there was a skill to navigating the circuit. Hugh Jackman said he learned from the master: George Clooney. “I watched him one day at an event like this — it was packed,” Mr. Jackman said, at a Saturday tea hosted by BAFTA, the British version of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. “And he never stopped moving, ever.” He demonstrated with an elegant shuffle-pivot step. “You go, ‘Hi, thank you, wonderful to see you, thank you so much.’ And you get really close, and really direct eye contact. And then he’s gone, before they get their phone out,” Mr. Jackman said. “I thought, that’s the way to go.” He grinned, shuffle-pivoted and stepped away. Here's the full article--unfortunately, no photos, of the Hugh shuffle-pivot or otherwise-- www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/fashion/bill-murray-parties-clooney-style-at-golden-globes.html?_r=0 |
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Post by mamaleh on Feb 10, 2013 16:56:41 GMT -5
He did that shuffle-pivot, as you call it, on the Conan O'Brien talk show a while ago. Fun to see.
Ellen
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Post by birchie on Feb 21, 2013 22:31:12 GMT -5
Interesting article/interview with Eddie Redmayne again reiterating how hard Hugh worked & prepared for this movie: www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/02/les-miserables-eddie-redmayne-amanda-seyfried-tom-hooper-oscarEddie Redmayne on His Low-Key Les Mis Prep and the Human Sacrifice His Brother Was Willing to Make for the Film
by Julie Miller 1:00 PM, FEBRUARY 21 2013
Much has been made about the extreme preparation that Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman underwent for Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables adaptation. Hathaway shed 25 pounds off her already thin frame, sent her new husband away to achieve the novel’s eponymous misery, and agreed to have her real hair chopped off for authenticity during a musical sequence. Jackman literally sang while bench pressing, quit coffee, consumed up to seven liters of water a day, insisted on flying with a washcloth over his face to keep his vocal cords moisturized, and subjected himself to regular ice baths. So to what inhuman lengths did Eddie Redmayne go to play Marius in the film?
“I did jack shit!,” the British actor joked to us last night at a party to celebrate Les Mis, co-hosted by Vanity Fair and Chrysler, at Eveleigh restaurant in West Hollywood. “There was a moment [on set] when I was sitting with Tom during rehearsal, and we were waiting for Hugh and a few other people. I asked where they were, and he said they were at the gym. He said, ‘You’re the leading man! Why aren’t you in the gym?’ I said, ‘Because I get to wear a costume! And I don’t have go through the hideousness of being emaciated. Why aren’t you in the gym?”
Not to say that the actor—and one of his immediate family members— wasn’t obsessed with the production. “My older brother, James, and I— we had no sort of formal musical background, but when we were little he would sing Jean Valjean and I would sing Javert,” the Tony winner told us. “When I was auditioning for the part, I cared very much about getting [Marius]. But James cared even more than me! He was sending me constant text messages. ‘Have you heard?’ ‘What’s the latest?’ ‘Any news?’”
James was so dedicated to his brother’s project that he even proposed a human sacrifice to Tom Hooper. “James even offered his newborn baby to be baby Cosette in the movie. Literally! He went up to Tom [Hooper] and said, ‘Have my child.’ Tom was like, ‘Uh, there is no baby Cosette in the film. Thanks.”
In the end, Hooper’s dismissal probably worked out best for Eddie’s niece. To create a realistically miserable 19th-century Parisian environment, Hooper reportedly left the stage doors open all night to make sure it was bitterly cold on set, let fish rot for odorous authenticity, and filled a man-made sewer with sludge for Jackman and Redmayne to wade through during Valjean’s escape scene.
“That was the worst day . . . filming the scene in which I’m in a sewer, being dragged by Hugh,” Redmayne recalls. “We were swimming through shit for a day and a half. But I’m not allowed to complain, because whatever I was going through, Hugh had to carry me through it.”
Asked how they made light of the situation—slogging through sewage that production designer Eve Stewart has revealed was in fact facial mud— Redmayne revealed: “Well, the fact that we were singing while covered in shit was pretty funny. The constant singing was quite humorous himself.”
After speaking to Amanda Seyfried—who told us that the extent of her weight-loss preparations for the film was “abstaining from alcohol and foods that were too creamy and sugary . . . nothing close to what Anne did,” we discussed the extreme circumstances of the shoot with Hooper. “Well, we were in a closed-door environment. I tried to make it seem as real as I could,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker said, before cheekily adding that it was not nearly as chilly or smelly as it would have been had the cast filmed on location in a real fish market or an actual sewer. As eager as Hooper had been to make the shoot feel real, however, even he agreed that Hathaway and Jackman went to ridiculous extremes. Of the two, he said that Jackman went further, “not drinking anything for 36 hours so he could get that sunken-cheek-and-pallor effect. That was a bit much. I was so scared for him that I even tried to force him to take a sip of water.” Sue |
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Post by JH4HJ on Dec 9, 2013 22:19:29 GMT -5
I hadn't seen this one before. Hope it's not redundant.
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Post by jo on Dec 10, 2013 4:57:06 GMT -5
To me, the role of Jean Valjean will be Hugh's career iconic and definitive film role! It draws on so much of his gifts and emotions and he will likely measure all his other roles vis-a-vis this role of a lifetime.
Thanks for the interview! I am on a Les Mis mode these days, having rewatched the movie again, to check out whether the musical score has amazing chances to win the Grammy!
Jo
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