Les Miserables - In Production/Post Production

[jo]

Another TDKR interview -- at 5'21", they talk about Les Mis, which seems to be a great favorite with the media person interviewing Anne Hathaway.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a3NY2Cb3tI&feature=youtu.be

Anne: "You're gonna love Hugh Jackman! Hugh Jackman is going to blow you away!"

Thanks, Anne, for raising our anticipation levels even further! I have a six-month wait myself, as we don't get the movie released here till January.

Jo

[JH4HJ]

"Workers involved in the big budget cinema production of the Victor Hugo classic joined a trade union in a backlash against their “miserable” working conditions.

Those involved in costumes, hair and make-up in the film, which stars Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, reportedly got fed up with working extra hours, often without extra pay."

Full article:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9405276/Les-Miserables-workers-stage-rebellion-on-set-of-film.html

[jo]

Here's a funny take on EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT LES MISERABLES SO FAR, according to a blog from the filmsite NEXTMOVIE.COM --

www.nextmovie.com/blog/les-miserables-everything-we-know-so-far/


Quote:


Everything We Know About 'Les Miserables' So Far

By Max Evry | Jul 18, 2012 | 10:00 AM


Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper have dreamed a dream: That they can put butts in seats for their movie version of "Les Misérables" the same way the musical has packed 'em in for over 25 years.

Victor Hugo's classic 1862 novel told the sprawling redemption tale of ex-convict Jean Valjean, set against the backdrop of Paris from 1815 to the student uprising of 1832. The 1985 musical version enjoyed one of the most successful runs of any show on London's West End or Broadway. Now that it's finally singing its way into cinemas, we've been as relentless as Inspector Javert in tracking down all the info you need to enjoy it.

Release Date

December 14


Stars

As anyone who's seen him belt out show tunes in "Oklahoma!," "The Boy from Oz" and hosting the Tonys (or winning one) knows, Hugh Jackman is as much Rodgers and Hammerstein as he is adamantium and berzerker rage. The "X-Men" star isn't the only one who's a natural singer, though. His fellow Aussie Russell Crowe has been rocking for over 20 years with bands 30 Odd Foot of Grunts and, more recently, The Ordinary Fear of God. These two will butt heads and try not to go "Oi Oi Oi" as Jean Valjean and his pursuer Javert, respectively. Other stars include Anne Hathaway as factory worker Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as her daughter Cosette and "Sweeney Todd" alums Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as innkeeper Thénardier and his wife.


Little People

Eddie Redmayne ("My Week with Marilyn") has been angling for breakout star status for several years, with strong supporting turns in other period epics such as "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and the darkly awesome "Black Death." Here he plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who falls in love with Cosette. Playing Éponine, Marius' best friend who's secretly got the hots for him, is 21-year-old Isle of Man native Samantha Barks, who makes her film debut here. She was handpicked by the original show's producer, Cameron Mackintosh, after she played the part in the show at the West End and the 25th Anniversary Concert, winning the role over heavyweights like Hayden Panettiere, Scarlett Johansson, Lea Michele, Emily Browning, Lucy Hale and Evan Rachel Wood.


Master of the House

Director Tom Hooper had done extensive television work in the UK before he told the story of our own nation's birth (while making Paul Giamatti somehow even cooler in a white wig) for the stunningly brilliant 2008 HBO miniseries, "John Adams." Two years later he swept the Academy Awards with "The King's Speech," for which he was given Best Director and presumably carte blanche on his next project, which turned out to be "Les Mis." With his atypical framing techniques and precise eye for historical detail, Hooper is the perfect maestro to lend an air of verisimilitude to this most theatrical of projects.


Movie Math

"Rent" – 160 years + Wolverine = "Les Misérables"

Also Check Out: New Trailer Is Anything But 'Miserables'


Backstory

Of all the contemporary movie musicals, be they "Evita," "Dreamgirls" or "Mamma Mia!," the seeming holy grail of them all would be "Les Mis," one of the jewels in the British theatrical crown and the second longest-running musical in the world after "The Fantasticks." Alan Parker ("Fame," "Pink Floyd The Wall") had the itch to make a movie version as far back as 1988, followed by Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy"), who was attached to helm for Sony in 1992. When neither men could hack it, the project lingered in development hell until Hooper's clout got Universal Pictures to finally greenlight the massive undertaking. Original composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricist Alain Boublil wrote a new song exclusively for the film titled "Suddenly," which revolves around Valjean and Cosette, and Hooper took the rare step of having the actors actually sing live on set as opposed to pre-recording the songs.


Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven

The story follows Parisian Jean Valjean, imprisoned for 19 years for nabbing a measly loaf of bread for his starving sister. When he breaks parole he is pursued Ahab-like by police officer Javert and forced to assume a new identity as the heroic mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Taking pity on beleaguered factory worker Fantine, he evades authorities in order to seek out and take care of her daughter Cosette, rescuing the girl from slimy innkeepers. Nine years later, Valjean finds himself in the middle of the 1832 Paris Uprising, trying to protect Cosette and her love Marius while finally confronting Javert once and for all.


Buzz At the End of the Day

After previewing the film at CinemaCon this past April, Collider remarked that, "If you were wondering if Anne Hathway could sing, or if Universal was going to f**k up "Les Miserables," the footage we saw today makes the film another early contender for end of the year awards." A 90-second trailer released in May featured Anne Hathaway getting a nasty haircut and belting out the sad lament "I Dreamed a Dream" with quivering, deeply felt sadness. It inspired a cheeky writer for England's The Guardian to write, "This trailer is so unrelentingly demoralising that I just want to crawl into bed and cry myself inside out for a month. This is, hands down, the most bummed out I've ever been. Ever." Fans were also disappointed that no footage of Crowe or Jackman singing was included, but we'll likely see more before its Christmas release.


Do We Hear The People Sing?

Movie musicals have had a spotty track record at best in recent years. Though it's great to see these holdovers from the golden age of Hollywood are still being made, for every hit like "Mamma Mia!" there seems to be two or three bloated disasters the likes of "Nine," "Across the Universe" or "Rock of Ages." To top it off you have some genuinely unpleasant subject matter — it's called "The Miserables" for a reason — which may not sit well with your average Joe the Plumber trying to absorb the plight of the poor through a nacho cheese and Coca-Cola haze during the Christmas season. That said, Hooper's visuals glimpsed in the trailer are nothing less than stunning, harking back to the sweep of his "John Adams," which also took on an unpleasant subject matter while remaining entertaining and mythic. Here's hoping "A Little Fall of Rain" will lead to a shower of Oscars.

[jo]

From one of Anne's numerous interviews re her current movie where she also talks about Les Miserables --

entertainment.inquirer.net/50859/anne-hathaway-on-her-iconic-catwoman-and-fantine-roles

...Still wearing her short haircut for “Les Miz,” and looking radiant and younger-looking (she turns 30 in November), Anne was visibly jazzed up as she talked about her two major roles this year.

In the much-anticipated musical based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Anne is in terrific company: Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette), Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thenardier), Samantha Barks (Eponine) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Thenardier).

In an unusual move, Hooper decided that the cast should sing live on-set, not lip-synch to prerecorded tracks.

“Hugh is going to blow people’s minds in the movie,” Anne predicted. “There’s something so deep and almost spiritual about his performance. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Russell also blew my mind,” said the actress, pixie-ish in her short do and little black dress. “I’ve never seen an actor work as hard as he did to become Javert and to increase his vocal range. When Russell sang ‘Stars’ to me, I cried. It was so full of emotion and nuance, and his voice was so strong! It was like heaven every day to be with two beautiful men with such goodness inside of them.”

Laughing, she quipped, “It made me want to make all my projects musicals.”

Anne choked a bit as she answered our question on her experience singing “I Dreamed A Dream,” the musical’s haunting anthem. “The way we approached ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ is very different than it is on the show,” she began. “We put it at a different spot in the movie. In the show, it happens after she loses her job at the factory. In our version, it’s after her first experience as a prostitute, so I was really in a raw place when I did it. It was painful.”

Confidence

Anne pointed out, “My version is very different. I performed it first for Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg.” Anne said that once she got the composers’ approval, she gained some confidence, but she was still daunted when it was time to shoot the scene.

She recalled, “On the first take, I definitely felt the weight of the song’s fame and its iconic nature. Tom Hooper came up to me. I said, ‘I’m scared, Tom.’ He said, ‘It’s not an iconic song. This is a woman’s soul that you are expressing. Just focus on that.’ I did, and the next take was the one he went with.”...

>>>"Hugh is going to blow people’s minds in the movie,” Anne predicted. “There’s something so deep and almost spiritual about his performance. I’ve never seen anything like it.”<<<

That almost sounds mind-boggling. I am trying to imagine what she means by it. Shades of The Fountain?

Jo

[mamaleh]

Anybody see "Entertainment Tonight" this evening? They had an "exclusive set visit" that mostly concentrated on Anne Hathaway's get-super-skinny regimen, for which she thanked Hugh for his tips. There was a funny bit that had Hugh putting in one of his pairs of false teeth he wears as he ages in the film. Looking exaggeratedly creepy, he semi-spit/lisped (because of the fake chompers) a message to Deb: something like "I'm looking forward to coming home, babe!"

Ellen

[chessie]

Thanks for the tip - I'll record the rebroadcast.

Carol

[jo]

There was a funny bit that had Hugh putting in one of his pairs of false teeth he wears as he ages in the film.

I wonder how he managed to sing with the fake teeth. Supposedly, the pre-dying and dying scene ( where he reprises Bring Him Home) was supposed to have amazed the people around.

Jo

[mamaleh]

Jo, I think he exaggerated his impediment for comic effect for the ET cameras.

Ellen

[jo]

I figured that one out

but I still couldn't see the need for the actors to use fake teeth when they have to sing-through practically the entire dialog. That sounds like too much realism, Mr. Hooper

I hope the sight of him with fake teeth singing does not elicit unexpected laughs - LOL!

Jo

[jo]

Empire Magazine has shared some interview notes from Tom Hooper --

www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a395280/les-miserables-wont-be-camp-says-director-tom-hooper.html

Quote:


>>>'Les Misérables' won't be camp, says director Tom Hooper

Published Thursday, Jul 26 2012, 00:01 BST | By Mayer Nissim |

Tom Hooper has said that his movie adaptation of Les Misérables will not be "camp".

The director has retained the sung-through musical structure from the successful stage production and has had the cast sing the vocals live on set.

"There is nothing camp about this musical," Hooper told Empire.

"It is very grounded, very masculine and very strong about the big universal themes.

"It's not first and foremost a musical. It's first and foremost a terrific story that uses the musical form to express itself."

Of recording live vocals with a pianist playing via an ear-piece, Hooper explained: "The thing about singing it live is it allows the illusion that the actors are thinking the songs up.

"I say to Hugh [Jackman], 'With that verse, just give yourself a fraction more time to let the new idea form, then sing about it'. It's completely revolutionary."

Read the full feature in this month's Empire magazine, out today (July 26). Les Misérables is out on January 11, 2013 in the UK and December 14, 2012 in the US.<<<




His cinematic approach makes me even more excited for this film -- that it is fundamentally strong storytelling and characterizations, using the musical form to deliver the dramatic tale!

It seems that he found in Hugh the perfect performer ( one who understood the cinematic as well as the theatrical performing form) to translate his vision perfectly.

'With that verse, just give yourself a fraction more time to let the new idea form, then sing about it'. It's completely revolutionary.

I would love to read a dual interview from both artists when the movie is about to be released! Better still - include one in the bonus features of the DVD/BluRay release!

Jo

[jo]

Someone's uploaded the clip from ET on Youtube -- fake teeth and all ;D


www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hD4FFN6Rm8




Jo

[Jamie]

Jul 25, 2012 19:20:52 GMT -5 jo said:

I would love to read a dual interview from both artists when the movie is about to be released! Better still - include one in the bonus features of the DVD/BluRay release!

Jo

This will be a perfect movie for a "Director's Cut" with commentary throughout as an extra. Love your idea of a conversation with the principals (particularly Hugh) as they all represent iconic characters and themes.

[jo]

The idea of a conversation between Hugh and Hooper came from a very good former conversation/interview with Hugh and Darren Aronofsky when they did The Fountain.

I also liked the interview done by Rachel of Hugh ( and featured on Blu-Ray, but later on released on the DVD re-release) - the theme was about acting and acting viewpoints.

An interview by a media person does not sometimes elicit insights usually available only from co-professionals or from co-insiders!

A forum with Hooper, Jackman, Crowe, Hathaway and maybe Redmayne would be an interesting media discussion!

Jo

[jo]

More details --

Hugh Jackman's 'Full-On' Les Miserables Role



Hugh Jackman says shooting the film version of 'Les Miserables' has been ''full-on''.

The 43-year-old actor - who plays Jean Valjean in the movie adaptation of the popular musical - sings his songs live in the movie alongside his fellow cast members, and he admits the motion picture ''feels immediate and real'' just like the emotional production.

He said: ''So much of your brain is on the miming, then you've got to act. The very first scene that I'm in, we were close to the Alps. It was below zero, it was very windy and you can see steam, you can hear the cold in my voice. It feels immediate and real.

'''Les Misérables' is one of the most emotive musicals ever written. There's no walk in the park scene. Everything is full-on.''

Director Tom Hooper has ensured the movie - which also stars Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried - is a sung-through musical like the original production and he decided to have the cast sing the production's 40 songs live, but the filmmaker insists there is ''nothing camp'' about the motion picture and it is ''very masculine''.

In a joint interview with Empire magazine, he added: ''There is nothing camp about this musical.

''It is very grounded, very masculine and very strong about the big universal themes. It's not first and foremost a musical. It's first and foremost a terrific story that uses the musical form to express itself.''

This month's Empire magazine is on sale today (26.07.12).

'Les Misérables' is out on January 11, 2013.

If you watch the teaser, the first scene shows Valjean trudging up a hill, with a large patch of snow on the ground nearby.

Jo

[jo]

Another photo still from the ET coverage --

[foxie]

wow cant wait!!

[jo]

EMPIRE, the Brit movie magazine ( arguably the best around for covering movies) has published the first featured article on LES MISERABLES on location --

Someone gave a link to the scanned article --

[jo]

And the second page --

[carouselkathy]

Keeping it sung through? This is a bit of a surprise. I was under the impression that a lot of the recitative would be cut and replaced with some dialogue. Previously, sung-through film adaptations have not done very well at the box office. PHANTOM did not meet box office expectations. Even Madonna could not help EVITA, and Johnny Depp's star power did not turn SWEENY TODD into a blockbuster. HAIRSPRAY, DREAMGIRLS and MOMMA MIA had pop scores and appealed to AMERICAN IDOL conditioned audiences. Maybe Tom Hooper is such a great director that he has figured out a way to make sung through recitative interesting to audiences uneducated in this format. I hope so.

[carouselkathy]

HEY, EDDIE....If you have any trouble with the high notes, I know for a fact that Marni Nixon is still available.

[jo]

The sung-through format has always been the plan. I was lucky to have received a response from screenwriter William Nicholson on his site, where he affirmed that the format will be basically retained but that some dialog will be introduced. I posted in the old Oz board.

The main difference in the approach to filming has been to require live vocals ...and orchestrations to be added only during post. This is in contrast to the old practice of pre-recording the singing and then letting the actors mime or lipsynch to the recorded songs ( which, as Hugh says, is not the best way to approach a musical as the actor has to concentrate on the miming instead of the acting).

Tom Hooper emphasizes that the focus is the storytelling, albeit musicalized --

''It is very grounded, very masculine and very strong about the big universal themes. It's not first and foremost a musical. It's first and foremost a terrific story that uses the musical form to express itself."

Perhaps the best test so far is the first teaser, which received very positive reactions, where Anne/Fantine sings I Dreamed A Dream, not as it would be sung in a stage production, but with a heavy dose of realism! The song was also used to introduce glimpses of the characters and a hint of the storyline! There have been some reactions from non-musical fans who say that they are surprised themselves that their reaction to it was to want to see the movie itself!

Jo

[jo]

I believe Eddie Redmayne will be the vocal revelation in this movie! There have been quite a few very impressed reactions to his singing ( including from Hugh). Russell Crowe tweeted that the beauty of Eddie's voice " is a fact!".

I have listened to clips of him singing as lead for the Eton Chorus and he has a very beautiful singing voice.

Michael Ball will be proud that Eddie took over his Marius role

[jo]

www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-hinde-stewart/college-students-soci ety-lessons_b_1710122.html



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joan Hinde Stewart.
President, Hamilton College


For two years, a T-shirt that I received as a present hung on the back of my office door, its caption prominently visible: What would Jean Valjean do? Visitors never mentioned it. But after I took it down the other day in order to start wearing it to the gym, a couple of colleagues asked what had become of it. Turns out they had been intrigued by it after all. I like to think that the question on the T-shirt provided a frame for shaping responses to some of the challenges we all face.

The T-shirt question resonates with an article that appeared in The New York Times a few years ago about a 19-year-old college student in Utah who was charged with negligent homicide in an automobile accident. Texting his girlfriend while driving, he crossed the yellow line and hit another car, leaving two people dead.

That story caught my attention for several reasons. First, we are all concerned about the dangers of telephoning -- let along texting -- while behind the wheel. In the second place, the driver in this case was a college student, an earnest young man like those I see every day, who was devastated by what he had done quite unintentionally. Against the advice of his lawyer, he admitted that he had been texting and took responsibility. And finally, having as a young girl lost my only brother to a fatal crash, I am still shaken by such stories, even decades after my family's tragedy.

But it was the sentence imposed by the judge that riveted me. It included 30 days in jail, 200 hours of community service, and a requirement that the young man read Victor Hugo's Les Misérables "to learn," -- I quote from the Times -- "like the book's character Jean Valjean, how to make a contribution to society."

As it happens, at the time this article appeared, I was re-reading that voluminous masterpiece, a gripping portrayal of good and evil, of crime and revolution, of society in its horrors and, sometimes, the human potential for goodness. Jean Valjean, the ex-convict who is saved by the example of a saintly man, is one of the most memorable creations of modern literature. In depicting his hero's moral struggles, Hugo delivers haunting insights into history and politics, greed and ingratitude, youthful passion and mature love, punishment and reform.

That Utah judge understood not only the transforming potential of individual example and community action, but also the redeeming value of great models, whether literary or historical. In the breadth of his gaze, the profundity of his insights, and the intricacy of the connections he suggests, Hugo focuses his readers on right and wrong. I think about Hugo, Jean Valjean and the judge each time I read about colleges considering the elimination of French, German or the classics. It was recently reported that one university board considered them "obscure." Obscure, indeed. They teach us what our society so needs to know about compassion, understanding and forgiveness. They teach us what it means to be -- like Jean Valjean -- human beings with all our foibles and our immeasurable potential.

This is the story that Tom Hooper wanted to tell!

Jo

[carouselkathy]

Jo,
I heard the clips of him singing at Eton, and he was amazing. I was just replying to his comment about Michael Ball.

[jo]

I know - LOL! But he is in awe of Michael ( remember an interview where he talked about meeting Michael) *wink*

Can't wait to hear him sing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables -- and this coming from a true-blue Michael Ball fan ( he is my favorite singer!).

Jo