Les Miserables: The Movie!

IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!! 

AND IT RULED. 

It has been a long road from the initial cast, recasting decisions, 

the final cast announcement, & the trailer release 

to finally have this Christmas present arrive. 

[believe I was there on Christmas Day with Christmas bells on.]

• Hugh Jackman served as the backbone, brain, & beauty of this film in his performance of Jean ValJean. I initially thought he might seem too young, but that was a non-issue. His experience as a stage actor clearly infused his performance; his acting & singing were matched in excellence, awesomeness, & impressiveness.
• As Eponine, Samantha Barks brought a similar sense of theatrical professionalism to her performance; her singing was strong, her physical appearance was traditional & perfect (although her waist was freakishly tiny) & she presented an Eponine that was more pitiable than pathetic. Her role seemed more pivotal to this plotline in the film version & her rendition of “A Little Fall of Rain” was genuinely heart-breaking. 
• The role of Gavroche serves as a tiny bright spot of sorts, Daniel Huttlestone’s performance of Gavroche provided an equally bright spot in the movie. The moment of Javert pinning his pin to Gavroche’s tiny, fallen body & the aligning of Gavroche to baby Javert (“I am from the gutter, too” ~ Javert, "The Confrontation") was my favorite moment of the entire movie. 
• Speaking of Javert (incidentally, my favorite character), Russell Crowe was a great actor & sub-par singer. His singing wasn’t awful but it lacked the authoritative confidence that defines Javert; these short-comings became especially apparent during the confrontations between Javert & Jean ValJean.
• As Cosette, Amanda Seyfried was stunning in her effervescent beauty, created a fuller character than Cosette is often presented, & sang adequately. She had many moments of  a perfect & bird-like twittery sound, but, more often than not, she reached for notes & barely reached them. One thing I loved about Seyfried’s Cosette: she was blond! Cosette is traditionally brunette in the stage version, which never made sense considering she is Fantine’s daughter & Fantine’s flowing blond hair is a defining characteristic. 
• Speaking of Fantine’s flowing blond hair, where was it? I just want to know why they unnecessarily changed this iconic part of her character. Besides, the hair issue, Anne Hathaway was a pretty stellar Fantine. I really didn’t expect to like her in the role. In my nearly-never-wrong opinion, she peaked at The Devil Wears Prada & casting directors have been too generous in the roles in which they cast her (hello, Jane Austen). Apparently, I was wrong because she rocked as Fantine; her acting was thoughtful & she nailed the wide spectrum of emotions that fall upon Fantine. Her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" was refreshingly flawless & made me hear a song I’ve heard 10,000+ times in a new light (especially her angry growling delivery of “…he took my childhood in his stride, but he was gone when autumn came…”). Another perfect, gut-kicker moment was her dying eyes lighting up as ValJean carried her away from the whore-docks & promised to deliver Cosette to her. Well done, Anne! I’ll be rooting for you on Oscar night. 
• Eddie Redmayne played Marius & he presented the perfect balance of  man & boy. I didn’t realize he could sing, but was pretty impressed with his voice 90% of the time. I felt more understanding of this Marius: his past, his convictions towards the revolution, the crazy consuming feeling of first love, the need to take care of/provide for Cosette, & his relationship with ValJean…all of these aspects of Marius as an individual were more highly heightened & allowed the audience member a further investment in the future of his character.
• Helena Bonham Carter & Sacha Baren Cohen as The Thenardiers: Obviously, they were both funny, well-cast, & provided the necessary punctuating funny moments. However, they were what I expected them to be since these roles aren’t too removed from their normally-expected roles. Granted, S.B. Cohen doesn’t generally sing, but seeing H.B. Carter stuff meat into a grinder was a bit too much of a Sweeney Todd flashback for me. This is the lesson we learned from Samantha Barks beating out Taylor Swift for Eponine applies to the Thenardiers: even if a known face is a good fit for a role, an unknown actor might allow the audience to disappear into the story more. 
• Lastly, having Colm Wilkinson [the original & impeccable Jean ValJean] play the Bishop who re-routes ValJean's life was the best casting choice of them all. He is an exceptional performer who can conquer any role; but casting him as The Bishop who guides ValJean when he is the actor who guides the actors who play ValJean was so crazy clever, sentimental for the long-time Les Mis lovers, & respectful to the stage-version of the musical that I was crying within the first 10 minutes of the movie. One of many smart moves by our director, Mr. Tom Hooper. 

NOW GO SEE LES MISERABLES!!!

Les Mis: MOVIE TRAILER.

LES MISERABLES: THE OFFICIAL 2012 MOVIE TRAILER

COMING CHRISTMAS 2012

Russell Crowe looks like a great Javert & I can completely envision him as the obsessive, harsh, hounding officer. I'm just curious if Russell Crowe is going to be able to pull of Javert's character equally well through his singing and acting. STARS is one of my favorite songs ever & he better not drop the ball. As Jean ValJean, Hugh Jackman seems like a cop-out casting. He really is the only/obvious Hollywood name who is as synonymous with musicals as with movies. However, for this specific role, he seems too soft around the edges, too young, too pretty, & too familiar. I would have loved to see a seasoned Broadway veteran playing ValJean. Not only is he an iconic literary character (who I always prefer to see performed by an unknown actor rather than a familiar star), but ValJean is pretty much the pinnacle male role in musical theatre. Of the 13 film adaptations of Les Miserables, this is the first  translation the stage musical to the screen. It would have been refreshing & in much better taste to give the honor of the role Jean ValJean to a deserving stage actor over a familiar Hollywood face. 

Where were Sacha Baron Cohen (Thenardier) & Helena Bonham Carter (Mme. Thenardier) in this preview? Talk about a bad marketing move. Not only are they some of the most popular & pseudo-beloved actors in the cast, but the Thenardiers are the only fun part of the musical. I would think an excerpt of Master of the House would draw a more excited potential audience than constant shots of a busted-up Anne Hathaway. 

I admit I am not an Anne Hathaway fan, but I don't think I'm biased when saying she was miscast. Her acting has never impressed me; I've liked her in the contemporary, girl-next-door-with-a-twist roles (Devil Wears Prada, Love and Other Drugs) but have not been impressed with period pieces (Becoming Jane) or oppressively emotional roles (Brokeback Mountain). She's not all bad, but she is not a chameleon & Fantine is not a role that does not rely on her strengths. Anne Hathaway actually can sing [even though her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream in the preview was warbling, weak, & lacked conviction]. I was really surprised at her Oscar performance [specifically spoofy-singing On My Own] because you could actually hear her skill behind the farce. Seeing her in this video makes me wonder, WHY WASN'T SHE CAST AS EPONINE? I'm very glad that Samantha Barks ended up in the part, but I'd rather it had gone to Anne Hathaway, so they could have put someone in the more critcal role of Fantine. [BTW, It's annoying Eponine/Samantha Barks only got one side shot in the preview. Eponine wasn't a huge role in the book or 1998 film adaptation, but she is very pivotal & present in the musical. I'm sure her absence in the preview wouldn't have occurred if the originally-casted Taylor Swift hadn't lost the role.] Even Amanda Seyfried would have been a better choice because she more conveys the hopeful, wide-eyed, desperate vibe that Fantine requires (and was perfected by Ms. Ruth Valentine Henshall). PLUS, SHE IS BLOND.  I'm all about the physical re-interpretation of classic characters, but Fantine's flowing blond hair is one of her defining characteristics that was completely ignored in this film's adaptation. Even though she'd be a better Fantine, I am confident Amanda Seyfried will be a picture-perfect Cosette. I am equally confident that our underdog Eponine Samantha Barks will shine in her role & soon become a household name. 

BEYOND THE TRAILER...

P.S. I still think THIS CAST of Les Miserables would be pretty awesome.

NEWS: Taylor Swift is NOT Eponine!

Taylor Swift Is Out Of The Picture! (pun intended) This is a pleasing development.

I haven’t been all that impressed with the casting choices for this important movie; they seemed random, big-name-oriented, and, above all, disjointed. This casting (re-casting?) is a direct shift in that wind. SAMANTHA BARKS is making her film debut as Eponine, a role that marked her West End debut last year & that she revived in the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert at The O2. Before playing Eponine, she finished in the Top Three in “I’d Do Anything” (the BBC search for the new ‘Nancy’ in Cameron Mackintosh’s Oliver!), workshopped Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, played Sally Bowles in the national tour of Cabaret, and played the title role in Aladdin at the Theatre Royal Windsor. I’m so glad they decided to go with a true-blue musical theatre girl, especially considering the stiff competition of runners-up like Lea Michele, Scarlett Johansson & Evan Rachel Wood.

I love that Samantha Barks has a fresh face. She’s an underdog of sorts, being relatively unknown except to the musical theatre community. For the iPhone generation that will be experiencing The Great Les Miserables for the first time, it would be difficult to dissociate the familiar face of TAYLOR SWIFT with the independent & isolated character that is Eponine. Had Swift actually been cast in this role, I am completely confident that ‘On My Own’ would have ended up as a strange, re-mixed, country/radio version of a most beloved classic musical theatre ballad. Thankfully/hopefully, it will be more along the lines of this:

My favorite element of this casting development was

the musical-theatre fairy-tale manner in which it was delivered. 

Barks is currently playing Nancy in the West End’s Oliver! (after coming in 3rd place 4 years ago in “I’d Do Anything”).

 During curtain calls on January 31, Cameron Mackintosh announced that Barks had won the race for the role.

“I can’t believe I’m going to play Eponine, a role so close to my heart, a role I played in the West End. It’s the happiest moment of my life. The moment I found out I started to shake and then I started crying. I’m still shaking now."

~Samantha Barks