Tom Hooper is following up his Oscar winning film The King's Speech with another film filled with talent. He is currently remaking Les Miserables, an extremely successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France, where a prisoner named Jean Valjean seeks redemption. The cast has Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Helena Bonham Carter (who also starred in The King's Speech). Check out the set photos after the jump.
Here are the photos from the set of Les Miserables.
It may be way too early to tell, but judging from these pics, the film has a very standard classic look to it — imagery-wise, it looks pretty much exactly the same as 1998 version of the film with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush. I know that Tom Hooper is going to add his very unique touch to the film and we'll be able to see that once we get a trailer for the film.
One thing to remember about Les Miserables is that it's a musical meant for the stage and Hooper's adaptation of the story will also be a musical. To me, that is both exciting and scary. It's exciting because Hugh Jackman has one of the better singing voices on the planet. The idea of him acting and singing as Jean Valjean is sublime. Anne Hathaway, who is a soprano by the way, performed in the late 1990's with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus. So you know that she's got some singing chops.
Russell Crowe will also be adding his voice to the mix. If you would like a preview of what he sounds like, take a listen to his band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts. I'm not trying to be mean because I think Russell Crowe is awesome, but he most likely will be out shined by Hugh and Anne when it comes to the singing.
The scary thing about movie-musicals is the ratio of dialog to singing. Two examples of musicals that have way too much singing would be Sweeny Todd with Johnny Depp and The Phantom Of The Opera with Emmy Rossum. Both had great scores and performances, but had almost no dialogue. There would be a ten minute song followed by four spoken words, then right back into another song. It drove me nuts. It felt like the plot moved so slow because of the outpouring of songs. "JUST TELL HIM YOU LOVE HIM DAMMIT!" We don't need a five minute song to tell how you feel. The best example I can give of a musical that had the perfect singing to dialog ratio would be the original Grease; memorable songs throughout the film without becoming redundant.
I personally can't wait to see this film. It's got the right director, the right cast and a great story. Les Miserables will be in theaters on December 14th, 2012.
Are You Pumped For Les Miserables?
