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

In terms of numbers to cut, there are a few redundant songs here and there (the Friends of the ABC, for instance, I expect will have a significantly reduced presence). The epilogue, too, probably could stand some trimming (one song that springs to mind, even though it's a great song on its own, is "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", which is like five minutes of Marius singing about how his friends are dead and he's sad about it; I'd probably limit the Thenardiers to only one of either "Dog Eat Dog" or "Beggar at the Feast").
 
I could see cutting down "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" maybe, but cutting it entirely? Heresy! That was probably Marius' best song! :lol: Well, aside from "Red and Black" but I'd hate to see that go too.

Between "Beggars at the Feast" and "Dog Eat Dog," keep "Dog Eat Dog" - it's so sinister and drives home the "Miserables" part of the show.

Cutting the Friends of the ABC down makes the most sense, but it seems a real shame. Looking over the Wiki entry with the musical numbers, you could probably cut everything from "A Little Fall of Rain" to "The Final Battle" with the exception of "Bring Him Home." Losing "Drink With Me" would really suck, but I guess cuts have to be made. For that matter, compress things so that "A Little Fall of Rain" happens just before the final battle, with "Bring Him Home" happening at the same time as "On My Own."

You could probably cut out all of the prologue except "Work Song" too. Or, since this is a movie, go straight to "At the End of the Day" and establish Valjean's backstory in a limited way via a brief text into. Nothing's gonna be perfect and losing that driving opening will stink, but that seems like a reasonable cut for time as well.
 
The cuts made for the 10th anniversary concert are along the lines of what I would expect to see in the film, which means the street brawl / attempted mugging of Valjean and Cosette, the death of Gavroche and Thenardier's appearance at the wedding feast would be axed (and honestly, those are no big losses).

I'd also toss "Turning" (really, I just hate that song, although it could be because of the melody, I'm no fan of "Lovely Ladies," either) and "Little People" and probably turn "Every Day" into dialogue. Cut "Drink With Me" down, as well as "The ABC Cafe."

I would expect "Work Song" to play over the opening titles, moving directly into Valjean's release and his robbery of the bishop. They'll absolutely have to expand that early part of the story, because the musical makes a huge jump from "Valjean repents" to "Valjean owns a factory and is the mayor of a town," and that really won't fly in a movie.
 
Timby said:
They'll absolutely have to expand that early part of the story, because the musical makes a huge jump from "Valjean repents" to "Valjean owns a factory and is the mayor of a town," and that really won't fly in a movie.
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It's been years since I saw it, but didn't the Neeson version do basically that?

Either way, I don't think that's a problem. Movies do time-jumps like that all the time.
 
That's why I suggested cutting the prologue entirely, although "Work Song" and the bishop over the opening credits would be a good idea. Granted it cuts a HUGE part of the story to dispense with Valjean's backstory, but starting with Fantine at the factory gets us right into the emotional heart, right?
 
At heart, when it comes to adaptations, I'm a purist. Movies of 3 + hours have been successful, as long as they're done well. Or, release a trimmed down version of ~3 (several action movies are coming in at 2.5 hours or a little more) to theaters and have the Bluray/DVD have the complete musical. All though I'm a purist, I will say I can do without Gavroche.

BTW, anyone seen the new traveling version, I've heard that it is a bit different from the original (different staging). I don't know if it's shorter, but I'll be seeing it in January.
 
I have friends who have seen the new version of "Les Miz" and said if you loved the original, you will love the new one as well. I've seen the original 3x, but the last was 1994, right after my honeymoon. It's my wife's and my favorite musical ever. Just amazing. I long for a theatrical film of the musical! Bravo!
 
Resurrecting this to say that at present the cast stands at:

Jean Valjean - Hugh Jackman
Inspector Javert - Russell Crowe
Madame Thenardier - Helena Bonham Carter

Jackman apparently wants Anne Hathaway for Fantine, and supposedly Hooper wants Geoffrey Rush for Thenardier.
 
Russell Crowe? Can he sing? Also, Australian Valjean and Javert, eh? :lol:

Otherwise, sounds fantastic so far. Rush and Bonham Carter as the Thenardiers is brilliant. :evil:

I approve of Hathaway as Fantine, of course.
 
Crowe has been the lead singer in a couple of rock bands that he maintains as a side project, and got his start in musical theatre (The Rocky Horror Show, I believe). His voice is decent, from the YouTube videos I've listened to, though not especially Broadway; I imagine he'll be training up for the part.
 
Piffle. We need to see One Day More in glorious glittering cinema! :devil:

Fair nuff about Crowe then; Javert's such an important role he better get it right though.
 
clint g said:
Miniseries based off the book. Something along the lines of The Tudors. I've never been much of a musical person.
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They've done several adaptations of the book already; the musical, one of the most successful in history, has never been filmed yet.
 
CaptainCanada said:
Resurrecting this to say that at present the cast stands at:

Jean Valjean - Hugh Jackman
Inspector Javert - Russell Crowe
Madame Thenardier - Helena Bonham Carter

Jackman apparently wants Anne Hathaway for Fantine, and supposedly Hooper wants Geoffrey Rush for Thenardier.
Click to expand...

My best friend is very upset with the casting. She absolutely adores Russell Crowe (and has seen and owns every movie he has been in) but she hates Hugh Jackman and refuses to watch any movie he is in.
 
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