Postscripts to Les Miserables

[jo]

We continue to hear stories of how the movie came about and what happened during filming. One of them was the long list of names who auditioned for the role --

Here's the confirmation that Scarlett Johansson did audition for the role!

www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/02/scarlett-johansson-anne-hathaway-les-miserables-audition-cat-on-a-hat-tin-roof

Do check out the photo of Scarlett with long hair from the link --she would have been more historically accurate for the role of Fantine, as the Fantine in the book was praised for her beautiful and lustrous blonde locks! ( where Cosette got her own blonde hair).

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Scarlett Johansson Reveals Why She May Have Lost Out to Anne Hathaway During Les Misérables Auditions

ByJulie Miller

3:00 PM, February 11 2013

On Sunday night, Anne Hathaway collected yet another acting trophy—and gave yet another polarizing acceptance speech—for her performance in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. Had things worked out differently in the auditioning stage of the film adaptation, though, Scarlett Johansson could have potentially been flitting through this year’s awards circuit in her place. In a new interview with Broadway.com, the Tony winner confirms rumors that she did indeed audition to play Fantine and suggests one reason why she wasn’t cast in the iconic role.

In an interview to promote the latest Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which Johansson stars as Maggie, the actress is asked point blank whether she tried out for the part.



We’ve talked about you doing a musical at some point. Is it true that you auditioned to be Fantine in the Les Miz movie?

Yes, I did. I sang my little heart out.

Was it terrifying?

No, are you kidding? The jazz hands kid inside me was just over the moon! And I auditioned with laryngitis. I did everything I could to, like, not have laryngitis. And I think looking at the film now, there’s no possible way I ever could have topped that performance [by Anne Hathaway]. It was perfect and I think fateful and meant to be. But, yes, the audition itself brought back so many memories of auditioning for Les Miz for the young Cosette, and it was fun for me to revisit that.



Fortunately for her, Johansson has another dream role to which to aspire. “I just want to play Norma Desmond,” she concedes, referring to Sunset Boulevard’s faded silent-movie star, played by Gloria Swanson in the 1950 Billy Wilder noir classic. “In any capacity. My dream role.” If the opportunity arises, hopefully Johansson’s immune system will not interfere this time around.

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Hmmm...she could have brought another dimension to the role ( although she concedes graciously that it is Anne's role) -- I remember her in The Other Boleyn Girl where she played a much subdued persona and she was quite sympathetic ( btw, Eddie Redmayne played a supporting role in that movie). And she does have the singing chops ( although she has a more sultry voice). I think one of the nominated songs for this year's Oscars was sung by her. From a media report -- " she lent her voice to the Oscar-nominated song "Before My Time," which is featured on the acclaimed climate-change documentary Chasing Ice."

Interesting that she also auditioned for young Cosette then - she did attend the Professional School for Children in NYC, which trains gifted children for a performing career.

But Scarlett is a true Broadway baby, in the sense that she loves show tunes! Remember when she and Hugh sang show tunes all throughout dinner at the Ivy in London years ago - to the consternation of Harvey Weinstein ( because he said he missed dessert - LOL!). She seems to be following Hugh's career path - one that mixes film with occasional stage forays. Her latest, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, had not been as well-received as her TONY-winning role in A View from the Bridge.

Re Sunset Boulevard -- LOL -- she may have to wait another 20 years at least to play Norma! Unless she doesn't mind playing the role of Betty...and Hugh is still not too old to be Joe! Please, this is my other favorite musical-to-movie project of choice!!!

Although technically-speaking, like Les Miserables, it will also be a non-musical film to stage musical to movie musical! Except the film noir version is an original by Billy Wilder.

Jo

[jo]

I checked out the original SJ interview with Broadway.com --


Well, I thought that would’ve been pretty exciting, but we’ll wait for the next one.
[Laughs.] For the next Les Miz?!

You’ve done Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams on Broadway. What’s next, Eugene O’Neill?
I just want to play Norma Desmond.

In the Sunset Boulevard musical?
In any capacity. My dream role.


I could be wrong but I think she meant the Norma Desmond role only, whether musical or non-musical!

It is interesting that the film noir version translated into a stage play has never been attempted -- maybe Billy Wilder did not agree to any such project ( although he did agree to the musicalized version) when he was alive?

Jo

[jo]

An article on Cameron Mackintosh and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer on the origin of the English version of the musical --

www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/feb/18/how-we-made-les-miserables

How we made: Cameron Mackintosh and Herbert Kretzmer on Les Misérables

'Our librettist was travelling in Borneo. The musical began life in a canoe surrounded by crocs'

Interviews by Anna Tims
The Guardian, Monday 18 February 2013 20.59 GMT



‘They called it “The Glums”’ … the original 1985 production, which was panned by critics. Photograph: Michael Le Poer Trench/ArenaPAL


Cameron Mackintosh, producer

In 1982, a young Hungarian director, Peter Farago, brought me the original French concept album of Les Misérables. He said that anyone who was mad enough to have turned TS Eliot's cat poems into a musical would surely take on the challenge. He wanted to direct any production himself; I said I'd refuse to listen to it unless I could choose the director myself. A week later, I listened to it alone and, even though I don't speak good French, knew it would be right up Trevor Nunn's street. Nunn agreed, but only if he could do it with the Royal Shakespeare Company and co-direct with John Caird.

The original concept lacked tension: it began at the factory gates and ended at the barricades, and most of act two concentrated on the love between Cosette and Marius. I tracked down the French creators, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg in Paris; they were surprised I wanted to collaborate with them, rather than taking the rights and reinventing it. Boublil told me that it was while watching the Artful Dodger in my 1978 production of Oliver! that the character of the street urchin Gavroche had come into his head; all the other characters then fell into place. So I was, in a way, godfather to Les Mis.

Jonathan Miller had just staged an extraordinary version of Verdi's Rigoletto at the London Coliseum, transplanting the action to the mafia world of Lower Manhattan. It caused a sensation and drew in audiences who had never been to an opera house before. l asked the librettist, James Fenton, then drama critic of the Sunday Times, if he would be interested in writing the lyrics. He was just off on a three-month trip with his friend, the travel writer Redmond O'Hanlon, seeking headhunters in Borneo; Les Misérables must be the first musical begun in a canoe surrounded by crocodiles. Every time he finished a chapter of [Victor] Hugo's novel, he'd throw it to the crocs to save lugging it through the jungle.

Fenton was also a poet and, although I regularly sent him to France to liaise with Boublil and Schönberg, he'd go off on his own. Things moved very slowly; it was a two-year struggle. A lot of his words were brilliant, but they were poetry – not the sort of language you could act out a character with. Eventually I realised we would never get a finished script and Herbert Kretzmer's name flashed into my head. We already had the structure and narrative of the show; now it was Herbert's job to find it a voice.

We went into rehearsal with what we thought was the finished script, but stuff kept being added or edited out. Several songs were suggested by the cast to help develop their characters: Stars was written because Roger Allam pointed out that his character, Javert, needed to express why he was so driven. On My Own was originally called L'Air de la Misère and sung by Fantine; but the words didn't translate, and we didn't want Fantine singing two ballads back-to-back before expiring – so we rewrote it and gave it to Eponine.

It was a dagger in my heart when the reviews panned it. I'd rushed to buy the early-morning editions, and the first review I saw was Jack Tinker in the Mail, calling it "The Glums". I had my usual post-production lunch with the team, and we all felt we'd been to a funeral.

I rang the box office to gauge the reaction and the lines were jammed; they said they had never been so busy. The audiences had been euphoric. But that has been the story of Les Misérables ever since the novel was published: it sold in barrowloads, yet the critics hated it. I'm as surprised as anyone by its longevity; its strength lies in Hugo's observation of character, which crosses generations and cultures. And in Schönberg's music, one of the greatest musical scores ever written.

Herbert Kretzmer, lyricist

Cameron had asked me to visit him in 1984, after I wrote asking him to back an old musical of mine, Our Man Crichton, which I wished to revive. He didn't want to, but he had admired the show's lyricism. As I was leaving his office he asked what other songs I'd written. I named two, and he leapt about the carpet like a leprechaun, declaring they were two of his favourites.

Nine months later, the call came. I was so keen to work on a big musical that I'd have accepted if it had been Three Blind Mice. At the time, I was a journalist on the Daily Mail. I begged extended leave, holed up in my house and barely emerged for five months. Lyrics and journalism are a good match: both are about manipulating language under constraint. Bars of music can't be negotiated.

The two directors, Trevor and John, pressed me hard to collaborate with Fenton, but I knew I only had five months before rehearsals started: I told them that he who travels fastest travels alone Fenton's contribution remains in the architecture of the whole show. He discerned, for instance, the need for the young student Marius to express survivor guilt over the death of his friends; and I came up with the song Empty Chairs and Empty Tables.

The word "translation" makes me shiver. Words can resonate in one culture but not another, so I read the novel and then told the story in my own way. Castle on a Cloud had the line "There is a prince on the road" in the French version, but it seemed to me a young orphan would be dreaming of a mother-figure rather than a lover. Cameron had commissioned Claude-Michel to extend the musical by a third, so there were also long episodes to fill. There was only one song that I wrote first and which Schönberg then set to music: Stars, in which Javert swears revenge on Valjean.

I consider myself an atheist – but you don't have to believe in what you're writing, so long as you believe with every sinew that your characters believe it: the theology in the lyrics was written with the utmost sincerity. There was one dark cloud that dogged me, though: the song sung by Valjean to the sleeping Marius at the barricades. We code-named this "Night Thoughts" to reflect the resentment, anger and jealousy that Valjean would feel as he contemplated this usurper. Yet the music I was given was ridiculously at odds – a stately, hymn-like progression of three ascending notes. The directors came round to discuss it and, as they left at 2am, Caird said: "Sounds like a prayer to me."

The minute he said that, every door seemed to fly open. I was freed from delving into the murkier corners of Valjean's mind and could instead give his blessing to a young couple in love. I stood for the rest of that night in my study and by 5am, Bring Him Home was written – 17 days before the show opened.

I returned to the Mail, but then it became clear that the show had a fairly certain future: I was able to give up my day job at 61. Les Misérables has brought me my London house and my wife, whom I met at the opening-night party in New York. I often marvel at how those few feet between Cameron Mackintosh's sofa and his door changed my life.

"There was one dark cloud that dogged me, though: the song sung by Valjean to the sleeping Marius at the barricades. We code-named this "Night Thoughts" to reflect the resentment, anger and jealousy that Valjean would feel as he contemplated this usurper. Yet the music I was given was ridiculously at odds – a stately, hymn-like progression of three ascending notes. The directors came round to discuss it and, as they left at 2am, Caird said: "Sounds like a prayer to me."

The minute he said that, every door seemed to fly open. I was freed from delving into the murkier corners of Valjean's mind and could instead give his blessing to a young couple in love. I stood for the rest of that night in my study and by 5am, Bring Him Home was written – 17 days before the show opened."




I suspect the original intentions for the song was the mood and message that Hooper and Hugh decided to use to interpret Bring Him Home - hence the inner turmoil and the angst and then the final acceptance of Marius as his "son" because of his love for his daughter!

Btw, that is Michael Ball and Frances Ruffelle ( A Little Fall of Rain) who were the original Marius and Eponine in the photo.

Jo

[jo]

Giggle ;D

Watch these clips from Jay Leno, adapting the Les Mis style of negotiating ( via singing) on the current issue of sequestration!

newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/02/28/jay-leno-presents-les-miserables-style-sequester-negotiations

Giggle again ;D

Jo

[JH4HJ]

Les Miserables a boon for French town

Hoteliers in the French town Montreuil Sur Mer, setting for the tragic musical Les Miserables, are humming a happy tune as bookings soar by 366 per cent.

Short article:
www.vancouversun.com/travel/Miserables+boon+French+town/8034950/story.html

[mamaleh]

Feb 28, 2013 19:26:20 GMT -5 jo said:

Giggle ;D

Watch these clips from Jay Leno, adapting the Les Mis style of negotiating ( via singing) on the current issue of sequestration!

newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/02/28/jay-leno-presents-les-miserables-style-sequester-negotiations

Giggle again ;D

Jo

Very funny. Now that's recitative! (Loved the capital steps anthem, too.)

Ellen

[jo]

On a more serious vein -- here is an essay from someone who has ministry as his academic interest.

www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_22700759/opinion-and-oscar-goes-god

I am not advocating a discussion of these beliefs or theories -- but I just thought it really emphasizes that the main theme of Les Miserables centers on the Valjean/Javert contretemps ( in their beliefs and sense of morality) and the conflict between idealism and majesty of the law. Although maybe this would not necessarily been something that would have been of interest to most -- but if the publicity and promotion had centered on the conflicts (between Valjean and Javert... and the idealism of the students and the government they opposed) and not on the melodrama of Fantine -- the movie could have had a better chance to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Granted that some people did not agree with some of Hooper's directorial choices, there could have been a way that the focus could be one on strong beliefs and characters and how the people involved had expressed this through action and music ( and not push for all the tear-inducing moments) -- who knows???

I feel saddened for what might have been


Jo

[alma]

Quote:
...if the publicity and promotion had centered on the conflicts (between Valjean and Javert... and the idealism of the students and the government they opposed) and not on the melodrama of Fantine -- the movie could have had a better chance to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Jo, I totally agree with you. Les Miserables is not about a girl who falls into prostitution and dies. Fantine's fate is just one of the 'miserable' ways that lives were wasted in the 1800's in that French society Victor Hugo denounces in his novel. The struggle to overcome the hurdles life throws your way, that's what the movie is about. Valjean made it; Fantine could not. But you know how Hollywood just loves stories of prostitutes... gives them Oscars all the time...

I don't agree with the author of the article when he says that "Javert's character is identical to the young, idealistic students he opposes". Javert upholds the law--that law that is ruthless in protecting the wealthy and maintaining the status quo; laws that had nothing to do with opportunity and fairness; while the students were fighting for exactly that: bring down the king that upholds the laws designed to keep the poor poor and wealthy wealthy.

And guess what? I went back to the IMAX again. OH, HOW THIS MOVIE GROWS ON YOU! I can so understand why so many fans around the world have been absolutely enthralled by the musical for so many years.

I have not read the novel, and I doubt I could get through it because it is so tragic. Yes, I guess I'm too "chicken-hearted"! I read somewhere that the musical was "more romantic" than the novel. Well, thank goodness for that! In the novel, I understand that after finding out about Valjean's past, Marius estranges Cossette from her father who slowly withers away. Only much later does Marius realize he owes his life to him and "they console him on his deathbed". With full apologies to Victor Hugo, and with no intention of trying to 'improve' his perfection, I'm glad they made these changes for the musical. Those adjustments made the "miseries" more bearable.

Today was the fifth time I watched the movie, and I still cry. In the same scenes: Valjean's soliloquy, Fantine's death, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, when Javert pins his medal on Gavroche, when Eponine dies. Strangely, I Dreamed a Dream has never moved me to tears. And by now I'm not only ready to fast forward through Master of the House but also through Lovely Ladies (nothing "touching" in that scene)... and even I Dreamed a Dream. Mmmmm... overexposure?

After having watched One Day More at the Oscars (the absolute best part of all) I enjoyed that scene in the movie TEN TIMES MORE. So I guess there's a small advantage to having the movie released down here so late! And when I go back to reading your reviews and those of other Ozalots, now that I know what you're all talking about, I enjoy them so much more!

Mr. Claude-Michel Schönberg and Messrs Boublil and Kretzmer: THANK YOU. I am so ready for the soundtrack.

Alma

[jo]

Go read the novel, Alma

It is not depressing - there is a lot of social, political and cultural commentary on the times from Victor Hugo -- but you can always ignore them. The narrative is extremely readable and one can picture the scenes and the emotions - and some passages are stirring. I always like to re-read the passages when Valjean first found and grew to love little Cosette!

The book is very long -- I read it for the first time ( unabridged and English translation) when I first saw the stage musical in 1988 and re-read another fullblown translation when the movie was being filmed as I followed its developments on the filmization (on IMDB with other fans)! Don't attempt to do it in one long period -- read the chapters more leisurely - - he has them well-divided into chapters.

But if you are quite busy -- read the book in segments, if you like

I think the author of the article meant that Javert's rigidity to his moral code evoked the principled way by which the rebels clung to their ideals - I don't think he meant to say that their principles were rooted in the same idealism or beliefs

Hey, I am watching the tennis match between Nadal and Almagro right now in Acapulco. Do you live near there?

Jo

[annetter]

totally agree Jo. If only Universal had marketed the movie as JVJ's story things may have turned out better for Hugh and the movie. I've no doubt that Hugh will eventually win an Oscar. But, he worked so hard, prepared so long and was under so much stress with Les Mis. that he deserved and totally earned an Oscar for THIS performance.

Again I say Academy - and BAFTA voters - need their heads examined. :'(

[annetter]

totally agree Jo. If only Universal had marketed the movie as JVJ's story things may have turned out better for Hugh and the movie. I've no doubt that Hugh will eventually win an Oscar. But, he worked so hard, prepared so long and was under so much stress with Les Mis that he deserved and totally earned an Oscar for THIS performance.

Again I say Academy - and BAFTA - voters
need their heads examined. :'(

[jo]

LOL - Annette -- that was my subliminal message in my post!!

Hugh deserved to have won the Oscar and all the respect for this role, if only Universal and Tom Hooper had not gotten waylaid by the short-term appeal of the melodrama of Fantine

Even if he wins an Oscar for another role, the role of Valjean will be the one that I will put up as his most incredible and heartfelt portrayal ever!

Jo

[annetter]

Amen

[alma]

Okay, Jo, I'll read the novel! I'll get around to reading it, instead of dismissing it as "too tragic" before even giving it a try. That's is exactly what I tell my students they shouldn't do (not with this novel, though; I teach younger kids): don't dismiss a book before you give it a try. I should follow my own advice!

No, I don't live near Acapulco. I live up north in the Monterrey metropolitan area. When I was about five years old we visited Acapulco and my Dad and I had a really close shark scare!

I'm assuming you live in Manila? Just checked: it's about 2:00 pm Saturday, right?

I ditto Annette R's response to your comment: AMEN!

And gotta say g'night now! It's just past midnight; gotta go to bed.

Alma

[jo]

I have been reading some of the IMDB Trivia section (and other stuff like Goofs, etc) -- and this is quite interesting:

Hugh Jackman claimed Jean Valjean's death scene was the most difficult to perform, since it was filmed on a freezing cold set at 1 in the morning, making it hard on his voice.

I do remember that it was night when they were supposed to have filmed the death scene at the Winchester College Cloisters.

But what I find interesting is this : "since it was filmed on a freezing cold set at 1 in the morning, making it hard on his voice. " -- Is this the reason why his voice sounded so old??? What an excellent coincidence then because we thought he could just age his voice at will

Jo

[mamaleh]

Good one, Jo.

He was also pretty cold traipsing across that French mountain in rags and clogs near the beginning of the film. So I think there was some conscious aging of his voice, as well.

Ellen

[jo]

A friend also pointed out that the rehearsal for the finale scene was what made Hugh pause and doubt his acting ability ...and it was a good thing that Deb knew him so well and had the professional understanding of the situation to give him good advice on how to handle it! His reference to it during the Golden Globes was very heartfelt!

I bet though that he didn't know during rehearsals that the actual filming would actually test his physical endurance and not just his artistic talent

Jo

[alma]

Just now on PBS for their "pledge" weekend, they are showing a DVD of "ThePiano Guys".

If you want to be moved deeply, watch and listen to their version of "Bring Him Home", which they dedicated to all the military men and women around the world:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mJ08-pyDLg

Just beautiful.

Alma

[klenotka]

The Piano Guys are fantastic. I just found out they have a concert in Berlin in two weeks. But it is too late, it´s already sold out I almost cried during their Lord of the Rings cover.

[jo]

I have found the Movie Awards section of IMDB generally more serious in its exchanges than typical troll-infested movie pages ;D

I have noticed a newfound respect for Hugh, as indicated in some threads or messages on related threads.

Here's one which asks if the Jean Valjean role is his career-defining role --

www.imdb.com/board/bd0000005/nest/211892213

I have added my 2 cents' worth - would you like to give a comment, too?


Jo

[Jamie]

Mar 14, 2013 1:49:29 GMT -5 jo said:

I have found the Movie Awards section of IMDB generally more serious in its exchanges than typical troll-infested movie pages ;D

I have noticed a newfound respect for Hugh, as indicated in some threads or messages on related threads.

Here's one which asks if the Jean Valjean role is his career-defining role --

www.imdb.com/board/bd0000005/nest/211892213

I have added my 2 cents' worth - would you like to give a comment, too?


Jo

I tossed in my two cents as well www.imdb.com/board/bd0000005/edit/211920122

[mamaleh]

I did, too.

Ellen

[birchie]

Mar 14, 2013 1:49:29 GMT -5 jo said:

I have found the Movie Awards section of IMDB generally more serious in its exchanges than typical troll-infested movie pages ;D

I have noticed a newfound respect for Hugh, as indicated in some threads or messages on related threads.

Here's one which asks if the Jean Valjean role is his career-defining role --

www.imdb.com/board/bd0000005/nest/211892213

I have added my 2 cents' worth - would you like to give a comment, too?


Jo

Once more unto the breach, dear friends...
Yes I added my commentary. I have changed my user name over there to one of my other alter-egos.
Sue

[jo]

Thanks, guys


Jo

[jo]

It was probably said in jest, but fanboy oriented film sites do not want to let go of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine persona --

www.hitfix.com/news/new-the-wolverine-photos-reveals-some-of-hugh-jackmans-co-stars

"After that little Oscar-nominated detour in "Les Miserables, " Hugh Jackman is back in his most famous role, and "The Wolverine" director James Mangold has shared some classy black and white portraits of Jackman..."

Jean Valjean is a "detour" role - LOL!