Everything about Tom Hooper’s upcoming film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s renowned novel, and the subsequent stage musical, Les Misérables, sounds perfect so far.
Russell Crowe will be playing the male co-lead of Jean Valjean, with Hugh Jackman joining him as Inspector Javert, and Anne Hathaway will be bringing to life the female lead, Fantine.
When Hooper announced last month that he wouldn’t be using 3D for the film, he also said that we should expect to soon hear casting news about the roles of Éponine and Cosette, and it looks as though we could well be getting confirmation soon now.
Twitch are reporting, via The Playlist, that Taylor Swift and Amanda Seyfried have been offered the roles of Éponine and Cosette, respectively, after Hooper’s search in the past few months, with Swift beating the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Evan Rachel Wood, and Lea Michele for the role.
It was also announced last month that the cast of the film is expected to sing live on set, in front of the cameras, rather than pre-recording their vocals in a studio, which sounds like such a novel approach to me. Naturally, this means that the actors and actresses will need to be able to sing themselves, rather than use voice doubles. Swift of course has a background in music, but I hadn’t realised that Seyfried has been trained in opera singing herself, so both should come in handy for the hopeful pair.
The rest of the casting so far announced includes Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, and the production is set to begin this spring. This could potentially cause a scheduling conflict with Swift, who has a tour lined up forAustraliaandNew Zealand, but hopefully this is something they can work around.
Les Misérables is set to make its US debut on 7th December this year, perfectly lining it up for the Oscars in 2013. With a bit of luck, we’ll be getting it here in theUK at the same time to enjoy it before the end of the year too. I can’t wait. More news as we get it.
