"King's Speech" director to take on "Les Miserables"

[CaptainCanada]

The Guardian:

Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning director of the King's Speech, looks set to take on a big-screen adaptation of long-running musical Les Miserables, reports Deadline.

Speculation has linked Hooper to a number of projects, including Les Mis, since his Academy Awards triumph. However, according to Deadline the British film-maker has now begun negotiations with Universal Pictures to adapt the stage hit for what could well be his next film. Bill Nicholson, the Oscar-nominated writer of Gladiator and Shadowlands, will take on script duties.

Hooper's spokesperson has subsequently confirmed Deadline's report.

Les Miserables is one of the most successful musicals in history, but plans to bring it to the screen have been chronically unsuccessful; there was a fairly serious attempt in the early 90s, first under Sir Alan Parker (Fame, Mississippi Burning, subsequently Evita) and then Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy). Can Hooper at last pull this off?

I hope so, because it's a great musical with several of the most iconic songs of the last quarter-century. Admittedly, it'll be a bit of a squeeze to get a film of manageable length.

 

[Thestral]

Hmm... good luck with it. The musical's three hours long and it barely covers the major parts of Hugo's book. And I wouldn't want them to cut anything out of it.

Glad they're adapting the musical though. As good as Neeson and Rush were as Valjean and Javert respectively, the way that movie adaptation was structured (and ended!) was... not so good.

 

[DBR]

I haven't seen any of the earlier theatrical incarnations of Les Mis, but they have to get Alphie Boe: he's amazing as Val Jean!

 

[CaptainCanada]

The only real movie star I can think of who could handle the male lead roles would be Hugh Jackman, who I could see in either of the leads, but I think would be best as Javert.

 

[Turbo]

I haven't seen any of the earlier theatrical incarnations of Les Mis, but they have to get Alphie Boe: he's amazing as Val Jean!

Agreed; I was blown away by his performance in the 25th anniversary concert. He's still not as good as Colm Wilkinson, but then again, nobody is.

On a related note, I think that Norm Lewis is a fantastic Javert; he might be the best one I've seen.

 

[Unicron]

Yeah, I've seen Colm's performance in the 10th Anniversary version. I still consider that one of my favorite incarnations, as I think just about everyone in the cast was great. I saw some of the 25th Anniversary on TV recently, and while I'm sure those performers are well talented, it wasn't the same.

 

[ClayinCA]

Making a movie out of Les-Miserables-the-musical has been planned for so long that I can recall my college girlfriend and I speculating in horror that some wrongheaded executive would cast Kenny Rogers as Jean Valjean. (And if that doesn't tell you how long ago it was, I'll just point out that I'm in my forties now... )

 

[Turbo]

Another note on the 25th Anniversary concert: it's very weird seeing Lea Salonga play Fantine; I'm so used to her as Eponine. But she does a fantastic job.

 

[RandyS]

There hasn't been a decent adaption since Orson Welles did it.

Although the Liam Neeson movie wasn't so bad.

 

[Thestral]

Wasn't so bad - except that it ended with Javert throwing himself off the bridge in front of Valjean and Valjean walking away happy!

 

[Unicron]

Another note on the 25th Anniversary concert: it's very weird seeing Lea Salonga play Fantine; I'm so used to her as Eponine. But she does a fantastic job.

I thought that kind of looked like her, but I wasn't sure. I remember seeing an interview once where she mentioned being interested in taking up Fantine's role. But she does a great job with Eponine in the 10th Anniversary version.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Unless it can't be scheduled, I imagine the studio will be hungry to have Lea Michele as Eponine in the film version.

 

[Thestral]

^ Ooh, good idea! She does a great Eponine.

 

[Vanyel]

After hearing her sing in 2 Academy Award broadcasts, I'd like to see Anne Hathaway in it, either as Éponine or Cosette.

 

[ClayinCA]

Anne Hathaway as Cosette and Lea Michele as Eponine...I could see that.

 

[Thestral]

That sounds good indeed. Would make me give a shit about Cosette too. And Hugh Jackman as Javert? Perhaps not old enough. Oh! Hugh Jackman as Marius?

 

[Vanyel]

Ya'know, having Lea Michele play Éponine, might cut into her time on Glee, which wouldn't be a bad thing. It'd give other characters time to develop. Mike Chang, Blaine and Sam are being becoming full cast members, it'll give them more chances to shine. Also, according to the series creator, cast member are going to leave as the graduate, so Lea may be playing Rachael until the end of next season. Better stop now before I really derail this topic.

 

[Vanyel]

That sounds good indeed. Would make me give a shit about Cosette too. And Hugh Jackman as Javert? Perhaps not old enough. Oh! Hugh Jackman as Marius?

What is Hugh's vocal range? To stay true to the musical, he needs to be either a Bass-Baritone or a Baritone, to play Javert; and a tenor (specifically a dramatic tenor) to play Valjean. I think he'd be much too old to play Marius.

Marius would need to be much younger, stage allows for older actors to play younger character due to distances involved in seeing them (or so I've been told). Hugh could easily pass for a man in his early 30's, not late teens or early 20's. Marius could be played by Zac Efron ( ). But please NOT Nick Jonas , I saw the 25 Anniversary Concert and wanted to jam ice picks in my ears when he sang. Thankfully Michael Ball came out and the end and showed gave an actual performance.

 

[CaptainCanada]

What is Hugh's vocal range? To stay true to the musical, he needs to be either a Bass-Baritone or a Baritone, to play Javert; and a tenor (specifically a dramatic tenor) to play Valjean. I think he'd be much too old to play Marius.

Yeah, he's too old to be Marius. I don't think Javert or Valjean would be a problem, visually; he's mid-40s, and the character runs the gamut from a youngish man to a man fairly advanced in years over the course of the show.

I don't know the technical term, but having heard him sing a few times, I don't think he'd have a problem with either part.

Hathaway seems a little old to be Cosette by now, but I could see it working okay.

 

[Vanyel]

Sorry to resurrect this thread (Well it is 9 days to Easter so maybe it is a good time.) but I was listening to John Barrowman on Youtube, and I thought he is funny (I love his Captain Jack) and thought he could be a good Thénardier. Granted, he is too pretty for the part, as it is generally portrayed, but I think he could do it. Hugh as Valjean, Lea Michele as Éponine, Anne Hathaway as Cossette and the rest of the cast rounded out by Broadway/West End vets.