Les Miserables: Even the thread will make you cry - Part 2

[narrows101]

This article is about getting all the movies screened, here's the Les Mis part. It apparently just "locked" on Sunday. I bet Hugh will be there.

On Saturday, Universal’s Les Miz plan swings into action with an unprecedented six screenings — all featuring either in-person introductions or post-Q&A sessions with director Tom Hooper and “cast members”. The screening program will not let up until the film’s Christmas Day opening, which comes in the middle of the voting period. Universal is determined to get this film seen on the big screen by as many voters as possible despite the time crunch. The director only just locked Sunday night at 10 PM, according to an internal memo that carried instructions for delivery of the DCP materials for the digital projection. It’s a very precise, carefully orchestrated operation, and as the memo says “failure is not an option”. That’s certainly true in an awards race as tight as this one and particularly for a film as anticipated as this one.

“The reality is we’re going to screen this movie like nobody’s business the minute it’s ready and would have regardless….We’ll start screening the movie the day after Thanksgiving and are going to screen it, pretty much non-stop from there, until time of release. So between the screening program, its commercial availability beginning Christmas Day and for those who get the screeners, we think there’s abundant opportunity”, Universal chairman Adam Fogelson told an audience of Academy and Guild members attending the Moguls panel at Deadline’s recent all-day The Contenders event. He added that for smaller films the timing could be more of a challenge, but “not for any of the films here which are on everybody’s list”.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/osc...ay-for-major-contenders-as-campaigns-heat-up/

 

[Earthland]

Pretty much everything about this movie is unprecedented.

 

[narrows101]

Colm Wilkinson on working on the movie:

What was it like working on the Les Miserables feature film?

I’ve done some film and tv work before, I think The Tudors for example was a great thing for me to do because it helped me get familiar with the technical requirements of working on a movie. All the waiting that you have to do and the methodology that goes into this discipline is very different to someone who is in theatre.

I’m used to walking out on a stage, starting from that moment and going through my whole journey in a two hour period. I stay in that zone and that place. A film is more stop and start and you do different scenes out of sequence so it becomes a lot more challenging. The Bishop’s role is not huge but it was very gratifying to be welcomed by these big time Hollywood actors who seemed genuinely delighted to have me there. I have a lot of respect for them, this is a difficult process with early mornings on strange locations and it is very repetitive. The thing I had to be most aware of was the way I would project. In theatre you project a lot but in movies you can’t do that because of all the close up shots. I learned a lot about how to handle a camera and how much to emote. I would love to do more of it.

We’ve heard a lot about how the actors are all singing live – is that true? What was it like?

It is true and the first time it’s ever been done. It’s extremely difficult because you only have this tiny earpiece and you’re singing to an electric piano in strange locations and often inclement weather. You don’t have the track that they would normally have, they were matching the track to what we did after the fact. So Hugh Jackman had to sing the Prologue to just a tiny electric piano – and I can’t even imagine that. For me you need that weight of the orchestra behind you for that song, it gives you a lift and a blanket and something to coast on. Hearing a tinkly piano that sounds like it’s miles away is very different, and Hugh has my total admiration. It’s unbelievable the discipline and work ethic they all have.

Did you give any of the film stars singing tips?

Not really – obviously Hugh Jackman and I worked together more than the others, but they didn’t need vocal coaching from me. Instead the experience was a bit of coming full circle for me, because the Bishop hands the candlesticks to Valjean at the beginning of the movie and sets him off on his journey, and now I get to send Hugh off on his own journey. It’s a great way to pass the torch and end my association with Les Miserables.

http://toronto.broadwayworld.com/ar...e-Les-Miserables-Film-and-more-20121120-page2

 

[Earthland]

For me you need that weight of the orchestra behind you for that song, it gives you a lift and a blanket and something to coast on. Hearing a tinkly piano that sounds like it’s miles away is very different

That's something I'm worried about. There are parts of this musical that are just meant to be powerful, such like prologue and the factory scene. If they're not powerful they're just going to be very bizarre. In these parts maybe the live singing didn't pay off that well.

 

[narrows101]

That's something I'm worried about. There are parts of this musical that are just meant to be powerful, such like prologue and the factory scene. If they're not powerful they're just going to be very bizarre. In these parts maybe the live singing didn't pay off that well.

But they are acting through song, not belting to the back of the theater. Different mediums. How it works in a movie (unless you are lip-syncing) wouldn't work on stage and vice versa. I think it's more about the acting in the movie and the song fitting the situation (e.g., the way Anne sang IDAD).

 

[The Guard]

When you're belting, you can still very much act through song. You can even work subtleties into a performance.

There are parts of LES MIS that are traditionally powerful that they're clearly taking a different approach to here. That doesn't mean the whole show is intended to be belted. It's not.

 

[Anita18]

I think it'll be a give and take. If a singer normally feels supported by the orchestra during a song, but the orchestra is not there, they'll sing it differently. Now, for the movie, they probably wanted to avoid that as much as possible, but the track will be added later so they can compensate for that.

We can chalk up the musical differences to musical interpretation.

 

[danoyse]

The theater near me already has the advance show times up for opening week.

 

[narrows101]

Universal publicist tweeted in October that the runtime was 2:32. Well since then they lost three minutes:

Andrew Ku @PlaybillAndrewK
According to @THR, the running time of The @LesMiserables movie is 2:29; Universal's @michael_moses tweeted 2:32 in Oct.

Michael Moses @michael_moses
@PlaybillAndrewK 'Tis true! Lost three more minutes since that tweet.

 

[danoyse]

49th St!!!!

 

[acedrake]

I made a mistake. I was listening to the music for les mis(the Broadway rendition from 1985) and boy was I crying. The music is so potent that I think a good idea not to see it in the theaters or I'll be asked to leave the theater for crying and sobbing Such a wonderful and hard hitting phenomen that is Les Misserables.

 

[danoyse]

My cousin still hasn't watched any of the trailers. She knows she's just going to sob through it.

 

[Earthland]

http://news.moviefone.com/2012/11/2...pted_n_2166946.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000006

Ask Hathaway and Jackman anything.

 

[jmc]

I don't know much about Les Mis, all I know is that I was forced to participate in an end of school year performance of 'Do You Hear The People Sing' when I was in year 5. I pointed out to the teacher that the two flag bearers of the performance were holding Dutch not French flags who replied 'close enough'. Who needs accuracy right? Ahh, happy days.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I don't know much about Les Mis, all I know is that I was forced to participate in an end of school year performance of 'Do You Hear The People Sing' when I was in year 5. I pointed out to the teacher that the two flag bearers of the performance were holding Dutch not French flags who replied 'close enough'. Who needs accuracy right? Ahh, happy days.

"The blood of the martyrs shall water the meadows of Hoofddooooooorp!"

That works just as well, don't see the problem there.

 

[narrows101]

49th St!!!!

This is the billboard I see every night going to the 50th Street subway (walking west on 51st getting to 7th Ave. where I see it) - although Hugh is obscured because of the angle. Perhaps I should walk on 50th Street instead of 51st Street LOL.

 

[danoyse]

I don't know much about Les Mis, all I know is that I was forced to participate in an end of school year performance of 'Do You Hear The People Sing' when I was in year 5. I pointed out to the teacher that the two flag bearers of the performance were holding Dutch not French flags who replied 'close enough'. Who needs accuracy right? Ahh, happy days.

The director of my high school production of Annie had a guy playing Frances Perkins in the FDR scene. The real Frances Perkins, of course, had been the first woman appointed to the President's cabinet.

A history teacher who stopped in to watch rehearsal one day pointed out the mistake and she switched the role over to one of the girls.

Honestly, most of us knew that from a line in Dirty Dancing...

 

[DACrowe]

In some sense she's going to be fantastic for certain .... but I, too, wasn't convinced of her "Cosette" at all. And les mis confessions in such a lovely page...

Seems like nitpicking to me. Wait until the movie before you listen to snarky tumblr fangirls tearing her down. In any case, she is a much better choice than Swift or Michele for the role.

 

[Earthland]

I absolutely adore Barks! I totally rejoiced when she was announced as Eponine, Swift scared me a little and I'm even more thankful that Michele didn't get the part. But I adore Barks as a person, musician and stage actress, her film acting leaves me a little nervous at this point. And this, I think, is only natural. Hope for the best, though.

 

[danoyse]

So my obsessive-compulsive side got the best of me this week, and I took this of the Les Miz stuff I've collected over the years.

Spoiler

...and that's not even all of it. I have two more recordings on my iPod that I don't have CDs for, and my sister borrowed my DVD of the 10th Anniversary concert.

Plus I have a windowcard signed by cast from a BC/EFA fundraiser.

And some postcards and flyers I've picked up from whenever.

I also still have the t-shirt from when I saw it in London in 1998.

And I think I still have a keychain somewhere...and a bunch of ticket stubs...

Yeah, I need an intervention.

 

[narrows101]

So my obsessive-compulsive side got the best of me this week, and I took this of the Les Miz stuff I've collected over the years.

Spoiler

...and that's not even all of it. I have two more recordings on my iPod that I don't have CDs for, and my sister borrowed my DVD of the 10th Anniversary concert.

Plus I have a windowcard signed by cast from a BC/EFA fundraiser.

And some postcards and flyers I've picked up from whenever.

I also still have the t-shirt from when I saw it in London in 1998.

And I think I still have a keychain somewhere...and a bunch of ticket stubs...

Yeah, I need an intervention.

Holy moly! (And I think that floor is the same one we just put down LOL!).

Meanwhile - check out the EW interviews (new photo of JVJ and Fantine towards the end):

EW - First Interviews with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway - Exclusive

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/11/21/les-miserables-hugh-jackman-anne-hathaway-2/

 

[Pink Ranger]

So my obsessive-compulsive side got the best of me this week, and I took this of the Les Miz stuff I've collected over the years.

Spoiler

...and that's not even all of it. I have two more recordings on my iPod that I don't have CDs for, and my sister borrowed my DVD of the 10th Anniversary concert.

Plus I have a windowcard signed by cast from a BC/EFA fundraiser.

And some postcards and flyers I've picked up from whenever.

I also still have the t-shirt from when I saw it in London in 1998.

And I think I still have a keychain somewhere...and a bunch of ticket stubs...

Yeah, I need an intervention.

Please sit down.

All of us in the thread are here because we care about you and think you have a problem. We can't just sit back and watch you destroy yourself like this. We're going to all read personal statements detailing how your addiction has impacted us personally:

Dany, on May 16, 2012, I came home to find that someone had stuck the 25th Anniversary Concert in my DVD player on continuous loop. I went into my study and found all my Taylor Swift posters had the eyes cut out, and the replica ballgown I had of her 2010 Grammy awards acceptance speech had been cut in half with a scythe. The annual spring talent show at The Manhole Cabaret was the next day, and I had to quickly change my act at the last minute to a hackneyed and outdated Cher impersonation.

I was booed off the stage, all because of you! Your addiction is tearing this thread apart! *runs away sobbing*

 

[narrows101]

Reactions are coming in from some some of the screenings and from all accounts, it's a triumph, including all the actors. Check out the "reactions" thread at IMDB where everyone is posting the tweets, or go to Twitter itself.

 

[AnneFan]

Reactions are coming in from some some of the screenings and from all accounts, it's a triumph, including all the actors. Check out the "reactions" thread at IMDB where everyone is posting the tweets, or go to Twitter itself.

I've taken a look and by all accounts we have a winner on our hands. When you get talent like Hugh, Russell and Anne on board its bound to be something special.

 

[Filmboy]

This is definately the "must see movie" this holiday season.

I heard they just had a screening on Thanksgiving at New York.

Not sure about Anne Hathaway's chances at the Oscars. Have an actress won an Oscar for best leading performance in a Musical before?

I always thought the Academy prefer dramas than any other genres.