He’s adequate, actually. But, yeah, he’s the worst one in the cast, since it is an amazing cast.
Most irritating thing about his performance was that English accent that he turned on and off. Nicky, boobie, in the first place you’re not English. In the second place, neither is Marius.
I think the choice of Eddie Redmayne in the movie is, um, interesting. I’d have gone with an unknown who has a great voice to offset some of the ‘actors who sing’ already in the cast with a ‘singer who acts’, especially since it’s not a role that needs a name-actor so much. Plus Marius is somebody I think of as very pretty which Redmayne very isn’t (to me at least), but, I’ll assume the makers got to manage $100 million movies by knowing something about the process
Don’t you know the First Rule of Period Dramas? Rich people always have posh London accents, regardless of what language they speak.
I’ve never heard Crowe sing (though I’m aware of 30 Odd Foot of Grunt), but I admit, that would be intriguing casting.
I can’t help it…I was “raised” on the musical but especially the 10th anniversary concert live from Royal Albert Hall. There will never be another Valjean for me except Mr. Wilkinson; another Javert except Quast;another Marius except Ball; and especially another Fantine besides Ruthie Henshall. She was simply sublime. As was Wilkinson as Valjean. I just can’t bear to hear any others in either of those two roles.
P.S. I thought, personally, that Boyle’s “I Dreamed A Dream” sucked.
I like Boe over Wilkinson but everything else was better in the 10th. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaI9BPKhExk&feature=related
Ruthie Henshall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD-q2YuKb6c&feature=related
Though I can’t complain about Lea Salonga in the same role 15 years later.
Both of those performances give me chills every time I hear it. Anne Hathaway does not. She hits the notes but I don’t get the same feeling.
Lea Salonga in the 10th anniversary concert singing On My Own made me fall in love with her.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjfmP7h3gBw&feature=related
Samantha Barks plays the role in the movie. She did it on stage and on the 25th anni concert. A better choice than who I heard she replaced (Taylor Swift) but I think she lacks subtlety and pushes too much. Powerful voice though.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAugBdMMdM0&feature=related
P.S. I thought Susan Boyle did a passable amateur performance but it was good TV. Good editing.
I have the Complete Symphonic Recording as my canon (I like being able to listen to the whole thing front to back) but can usually set aside my notions on what it “should” sound like. But I’ll admit that Jonas didn’t impress me much at all. I couldn’t care less about him as a pop singer and bear him no animosity but he just didn’t have the voice for the more emotionally-stricken songs versus the love songs.
I was excited for it- they announced they were making it back when I was in junior high (going to date myself here- that was about '92).
I was thrilled when they put the French concept album up on itunes- work on language skills and be a theatre geek? Yes, please.
I was all set to go until I listened to a link up above. See, the concept album is missing out some songs. And in the years between the last time I heard the English album and now, my father killed himself. Someone said ‘hey, she’s a theatre nerd, she’ll love this’ and had the choir director sing ‘Bring him home’ at my father’s funeral.
I don’t think I can see it now.
I’ll bet Russell Crowe could sing the hell out of Dog Eats Dog. Too bad it’s a Thenardier song instead of a Javert.
Speaking of Javert, I liked seeing him on horseback; it’s good that they’re taking advantage of film to do things impossible to do on stage. Apparently, from the rowing scene, they spend more time on Valjean’s ‘unfortunate incarceration’ than the opening scene as well, and Fantine apparently sings I Dreamed a Dream after she’s sold her hair and presumably (from her appearance) after she’s become a prostitute, which means that Lovely Ladies must come first.
I’m hoping Le Ministre de l’au-delà (who was in the stage show) will pop in as his opinions will be interesting. I’ll post his name in case he does a vanity search.
I’m assuming they are sticking with no spoken dialog. Anyone hear different?
When I saw it in Indianapolis this spring, the opening song was set on a ship and sung by the prisoner-rowers rather than prisoner-field workers. I’m not sure why they changed it (I read the book and know of Valjean’s later incarceration but that was, well, later) since it didn’t add anything to the story and someone getting paroled off a ship in motion made a lot less sense than someone getting paroled off a field.
It was one of many minor changes. It was by the official touring company so I guess it’s an official change to the musical.
I hope no one digitally replaces Anne Hathaway with Susan Boyle and puts that on the net…
Why all the Anne Hathaway hate? She is great, and likes showing her boobs, which are spectacular.
Not hate. As a singer she is adequate. But I dislike stunt casting in musicals. I would much rather see a lesser known Broadway star than a Hollywood name. But I know from a marketing standpoint I’m not going to win that argument. But for proof I point to Uma Thurman in The Producers.
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Why all the Anne Hathaway hate? She is great, and likes showing her boobs, which are spectacular.
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I just hope nobody digitally replaces Anne Hathaway’s boobs with Susan Boyle’s.
They’re hiring film actors because they’re making a movie, not filming a stage production. They want people who know how to act for the camera. I’m sure that lesser known Broadway stars would be better on stage, and they’d probably be better singers, too, but that doesn’t mean they can act in movies. It’s a different skill set.
Number one skill set needed for a musical is being able to sing. I’m sure there are plenty of stage actors who can look sad on camera. Hugh Jackman seems to be doing ok with both stage and film. They picked Samantha Barks and she started on stage. To me Hathaway sounds weak. Compare it to the performances I linked unthread with either Henshall or Salonga. In comparision she does not measure up.
There are many ways to sing, just as there are many ways to act. Hathaway’s rendition isn’t particularly belt-y, nor is it as “strong” (in the vocal sense) as Salonga’s, but I think it actually fits the cinematic universe better than a traditional musical voice might. Unlike stage theatre, film acting is all in the smaller, subtler moments, and I think that distinction holds true for musical theatre vs musical films as well. Salonga’s version is gorgeous, and perfect for the stage, where emotion must be projected lest it be lost. But Hathaway’s version, IMO, works just as beautifully in its particular medium - it has a delicate brokenness that aptly communicates the underlying character and story on-screen without coming off as overpowering.
I’m not saying that a brilliant stage actor/singer couldn’t have handled the part in the movie just as well - the myriad actors who have successfully made the stage-to-screen transition (including Hugh Jackman himself) obviously demonstrates that the skill sets are not mutually exclusive. But I think it’s a legitimate decision for the film’s director to consciously cast for screen actors. And I think Hathaway’s performance in the trailer is evidence in favor of that decision, not against. But I’ll admit I come to this as a film fan first and a musical fan as a rather distant second.
I do see your point. I am pleased with the look of the movie so far. But a couple of problems with it. You say Hathaway’s version has a “delicate brokenness” but contrast that with the casting of Samantha Barks as Eponine. Everything I have see of her shows her as a belter. My biggest complaint about her is that she has no subtlety. She hits notes like she has been stuck with a cattle prod. How is that going to play on film?
Samantha Barks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYWIVmTBECE
same roll Lea Salonga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGx_z4v4484
Lea is still powerful but has a subtlety and ease of phrasing that Barks does not show.
The story has been done to death. 25 or 30 times on TV and film? The one thing that sets this apart from all that is the music. Anything that takes away from that I can not see as a positive.
ETA: I am less worried about Hathaway than I am with Crowe. The Javert songs are not easy to do. I have a hard time thinking he can pull it off.
It would seem, in my nonprofessional opinion, that you can always tweak the songs in post-production. It’s harder to tweak someone’s inability to act on film.