Les Miserables: One Thread More!

[danoyse]

Although as brilliant as Daniel Day-Lewis is, keep in mind that the time he did do a movie musical (Nine), he received no award recognition. Suck on that, Lincoln!

Like I've said before, DDL was brilliant, and if he (probably) wins, it's absolutely well-deserved.

But I would love to see Hugh win. I really did love him in this. I think moving Eponine's arc around (to how it was in the book), really brought more facets of Valjean's character and how he truly struggled with knowing he had to let Cosette go, that we really didn't have in the stage version, and I thought he played that beautifully. It made the ending that much more powerful because it wasn't just that he had once saved Cosette, but how much it meant that he had saved Marius as well.

Again, I'm just happy he was nominated! I'm not going to blast DDL when he inevitably wins the thing, because he's awesome too.

I've noticed a select few of Hugh's loonier fans (narrows knows the ones I'm talking about!) seem to even have daggers out Anne at this point.

 

[Bim]

I'd love it if Hugh won also. It's either him or DDL (or it should be!), so i'm happy for either. Would be real nice if it was Hugh though, cause he hasnt won before.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Although as brilliant as Daniel Day-Lewis is, keep in mind that the time he did do a movie musical (Nine), he received no award recognition. Suck on that, Lincoln!

Ah, but that's because Nine wasn't really a movie, it was Daniel Day-Lewis doing intense, in-depth research into playing the role of an actor who plays a role in a musical movie but doesn't get nominated for any awards. THAT movie apparently is amazing, and comes out in 2016.

Mind. Blown.

 

[narrows101]

I think in a lesser year, Hugh would be the front-runner - it's all about timing! I think everyone would be shocked if DDL didn't win and make history as the first actor to win three Best Actor awards. I think Hugh would have had a great shot if "Lincoln" hadn't been in development hell for years and still had Liam Neeson playing the lead and come out a few years ago like it was supposed to!

Anyway, I'm happy with Hugh's CV:

Two Tony Awards, one Emmy Award and one nomination, one Golden Globe Award and another nomination, one Oscar nomination, plus all his other theater wins and other nominations for various things, not bad!

 

[danoyse]

I think in a lesser year, Hugh would be the front-runner - it's all about timing! I think everyone would be shocked if DDL didn't win and make history as the first actor to win three Best Actor awards. I think Hugh would have had a great shot if "Lincoln" hadn't been in development hell for years and still had Liam Neeson playing the lead and come out a few years ago like it was supposed to!

Anyway, I'm happy with Hugh's CV:

Two Tony Awards, one Emmy Award and one nomination, one Golden Globe Award and another nomination, one Oscar nomination, plus all his other theater wins and other nominations for various things, not bad!

And the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Burping Award. Never forget that one.

 

[narrows101]

And the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Burping Award. Never forget that one.

Ha, forgot about that one - wonder where that Surfboard is?

Meanwhile, Amanda was at the Sundance Film Festival and did interviews for her movie about Linda Lovelace, and Les Mis came up - she did six auditions for that! There's both an audio and a transcript:

You’ve clearly won the actor’s lottery in terms of the parts that you get to do.

Seyfried: Yes.

When did you first realize, “wait a minute, I think I have the winning ticket. I think I have something here,” was there a moment or a film?

Seyfried: Les Mis.

Really?

Seyfried: Yeah.

That was when you finally realized you might have the winning ticket?

Seyfried: Yeah because, not a winning ticket, but just that I’m in something so unique and so special that the excitement and the pride behind that lasts a lifetime. So this is just even better, it’s a really good moment for me. We just won a Golden Globe!

I would agree with you.

Seyfried: Yeah, it is. And it is a period of ups and downs, trust me, I’ve been doing this since I was seventeen, so ten years now I’ve been making films and I feel like that’s a long enough time to say that I’ve been in it for a while and it’s never going to up all the time. So I understand that there’s going to be a fall at some point, but I’ll get back up. I’m excited about this. Les Mis, I worked my ass off to get that and I got the call from Tom Hooper on the 22nd, we were on our third day of shooting, just before Christmas, to break for Christmas on Lovelace, and I got the call and I was so happy. And I also knew that Les Mis was going to be pushed anyway so I could do both. I mean, I was already in Lovelace so they were just trying to work out scheduling. I worked my ass off for four months to get this movie, and I did so many auditions, I did six auditions. I flew to London twice from LA just to audition. I wanted this role more than anything in the world because I’m obsessed with Les Mis, and I got it.

I was going to say, what does it mean for you? Because I’ve seen the crowds at the Odeon in London, it’s like, huge box office.

Seyfried: Huge.

Yeah, so I’m just curious, for you what does it mean to be part of this?
Seyfried: It means everything.

Because it could have easily not done well.

Seyfried: No, it was always going to do well. That’s what I believe. That’s what I’m saying, that’s when I knew I got the winning ticket; I knew it was going to do well. I don’t know why. I think it’s because everybody I know is obsessed with Les Mis. All the actors I know are obsessed with Les Mis, so many people I know have seen it. It’s a phenomenon. It’s a drama musical. Its three hours long. It’s like, “What? Why? French Revolution? Ok, boring.” But once you see it, you’re entranced because the music is amazing, the characters are amazing. Listen, I’m very biased. Obviously, if you didn’t like it, I totally get it.

No, I thought it was great.

Seyfried: Oh, good. Ok, good.

I was in New York for the press stuff.

Seyfried: Ok, yeah. I knew that when I got it I’m like, “This is the best Christmas gift ever,” and then it came out to a huge box-office opening, and I thought, “No, this is the best Christmas gift ever.”

I got to tell you though, I spoke to Eric Fellner and Tom; Eric told me that the first cut was over four hours and Tom told me that he has an assembly cut that was way longer and that if the crowd demanded it that he would maybe try to go in and try to do an extended cut, but it would mean re-orchestrating.

Seyfried: Yeah, it’s so hard.

Yeah, it would be difficult. Have you heard anything or have you asked him, “You know, there were all those deleted scenes…”

Seyfried: I didn’t.

Is that something that you would want?

Seyfried: No.

So you’re super happy with it exactly the way it is?

Seyfried: Yeah.

I always like deleted scenes, personally.

Seyfried: You do?

Yeah, well especially with something like that, if there’s extra stuff that might…you know what I mean.

Seyfried: Yeah, I don’t even know which deleted scenes. I just…I really got the jackpot on that.

http://collider.com/amanda-seyfried-lovelace-interview/#more-227688

 

[AnneFan]

Crowe tweets:

Russell Crowe ‏@russellcrowe
Voted Hugh Jackman as Best Actor for the Oscars. The character arc, the degree of difficulty, way more responsibility than any other nominee

Russ is a good Aussie sticking up for his mate. t:

 

[Pepsiguy2]

She gives the shortest answers I've ever seen.

 

[danoyse]

AMC Stubs sent an email offer with coupons for each of the Best Picture nominees. The coupon for Les Miz is for free French fries with your ticket. I'm not making that up.

 

[JP]

AMC Stubs sent an email offer with coupons for each of the Best Picture nominees. The coupon for Les Miz is for free French fries with your ticket. I'm not making that up.

FRENCH fries, GET IT?

 

[danoyse]

FRENCH fries, GET IT?

I checked to see if the Zero Dark Thirty coupon was for Freedom Fries, but alas...

Life of Pi is offering a free cheese pizza. Pie!. Get it?!

 

[Anita18]

I wonder if they actually thought it was clever, or whether they're cackling just as hard as we are at the cheesiness.

 

[danoyse]

The deal for Lincoln is for a $5 ticket, since Lincoln is on the $5 bill. I'd mock the cheesiness, but I also got a chuckle over paying for my soda with a $5 the night I saw Lincoln. We might all be just that cheesy.

 

[Earthland]

FRENCH fries, GET IT?

Now I've seen Les Mis three times. Last time it suddenly felt sooo long, but still absolutely enjoyable.

Also saw Lincoln. And oh ... it deserves its acting oscars but the others? None! One of the dullest cinematic experiences, and I loved the King's Speech. It probably wouldn't felt so bad if I was into American history, but what other movie consist in such a large part of sitting around a table and talking and talking and talking? Cinematography? Editing? Music? Directing? All about as ordinary as possible.

At first I didn't get the hype for Lewis. It seemed almost completely empty portrayal with DDL just playing with his voice and nothing more. But the scene where he told one of the stories (someone left the room, saying "I've had enough of your stories" or something like that) blew me away. Hugh also blew me away with "soliloquy", but at the end of the day, I think DDL will get his oscar quite deservedly over Hugh. Yeah, wouldn't believe I say so ...

 

[Earthland]

A little late, but I must say so: who would be so absolutely ret***** to give best acting ensemble award to Argo, especially over so many better acting ensembles - Lincoln, SLP and especially Les Mis? "Argo" had basically just one actor, with others floating in the background and doing nothing of importance. Weirdest decision ever.

But at the best picture race I would have to say that if not Les Mis, then Argo ... for me.

 

[narrows101]

Well Ben Affleck has won the DGA Award over Tom Hooper - which means at the Oscars Best Picture and Best Director may not match up since everyone now thinks Argo is going to win BP but Affleck isn't nominated for director. Also if it wins, besides no Best Director nom there's also no acting nominations.

The nominees apparently get some kind of medallion, and Hugh and Anne introduced Hooper:

http://www.justjared.com/2013/02/03/anne-hathaway-hugh-jackman-dga-awards-2013/

The Art Director Guild Awards (production design) were last night and Anna Karenina won over Les Mis for Best Period Film.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/art-directors-guild-awards-2013-winners-list/

I'm beginning to think that the only Oscar Les Mis will win is for Best Supporting Actress, perhaps Simon Hayes for sound mixing.

 

[Drizzle]

Also if it wins, besides no Best Director nom there's also no acting nominations.

Alan Arkin.

 

[narrows101]

Alan Arkin.

Oops, that's right, I was quoting one of the articles I read that said that, but Arkin is indeed nominated (I thought he was hysterical in that movie).

 

[narrows101]

Boxoffice.com:

Les Miserables took in $12.2 million from 2,665 locations in 40 territories, pushing its overseas cume to $198.4 million. The global total is now $339.9 million. Stats from Universal: LES MIS opened in 6 territories this weekend including record-breaking openings in Brazil and Thailand. Brazil opened No. 2 with an outstanding $955k at 135 dates and set the record as the biggest musical opening day ever in this market. Thailand opened with a terrific $284k at 33 dates, which makes LES MIS the biggest musical opening weekend ever in this market. Italy opened No. 6 with a fair $1M at 265 dates. We will have opening weekend results from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Uruguay on Monday.

In the U.K. and Ireland, LES MIS is the No. 1 film for the fourth weekend in a row. The weekend estimate is $4.7M (£2.9M) at 551 dates for a 24-day total of $48.2M (£30.2M). It is the biggest Hugh Jackman film ever, the second biggest musical ever (behind MAMMA MIA! £69.2M),and the 5th biggest Working Title film of all time in the U.K. and Ireland.

Japan had another great weekend, grossing $1.7M at 354 dates in week 7 for a 44-day total of $47.6M (¥4.1B). LES MIS just passed THE PHANTOMM OF THE OPERA (¥4.08B) ($40M) to become the highest grossing musical of all time in Japan.

Australia placed No. 7 with $750k at 207 dates in week 6 for a 40-day total of $25M.

Next weekend, we open in Israel, Latvia, Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine. LES MIS has 27 territories still to open.

http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-new...-100-million-les-mis-closes-in-on-350-million

Hollywood Reporter:

"Ted" breaks $300 million offshore while "Les Miserables" poised to surpass $200 million; Japan welcomes Tom Cruise.

***

Les Mis set opening records for a musical in Brazil and Thailand, and remains for the fourth consecutive weekend the No. 1 title in the U.K. ($4.7 million at 551 sites for a 24-day market cume of $48.2 million). Five openings are due this week including a Russia bow.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foreign-box-office-django-unchained-417668

 

[AnneFan]

Anne at the Oscars nominees luncheon:

Spoiler

On whether she has picked a dress for Oscar night: "I need to get on that, don't I? No, no preparation; I definitely have some ideas, some cool options. But no specific plans yet, no preparation. It was the Super Bowl — I couldn't think about dresses with all that delicious fried food around."

On almost having a wardrobe malfunction recently: "I'll tell you the most stressful moment for my stylist. Apparently, before the SAG Awards — and she didn't let me know about this, because she's a baller — but apparently my zipper broke. We had tried on the dress and she said, 'Oh you know, it's a funky little zipper. I don't want to do it up right now.' She made up some excuse and I didn't think about it, and she didn't tell me about it until the next day, that apparently we almost had a full-blown disaster on our hands. She's a magician; she made it work."

On previously not having access to things: "I don't know how to say this without sounding so obnoxious, but I've been hanging out with Stephen Spielberg lately. I don't take anything for granted. I've been given extraordinary opportunities, I've also fought for extraordinary opportunities. So I don't believe you're ever just there in this golden moment. You probably always have to remind people that you're there, that you have something to offer, maybe something beyond what they could imagine for you. I also think that's part of being an actor."

 

[Drizzle]

Back to non-awards talk for a second. I was thinking about this earlier: Since Valjean admitted that he was Prisoner 24601 in order to save the man from going to jail in his place, does that mean his factory was shut down? In which case, even if Fantine hadn't been fired by the foreman, she would have been out on the streets anyway. I haven't read the book, so I don't know what becomes of the factory or its workers.

 

[narrows101]

Back to non-awards talk for a second. I was thinking about this earlier: Since Valjean admitted that he was Prisoner 24601 in order to save the man from going to jail in his place, does that mean his factory was shut down? In which case, even if Fantine hadn't been fired by the foreman, she would have been out on the streets anyway. I haven't read the book, so I don't know what becomes of the factory or its workers.

I haven't read the book either but in the 1998 Liam Neeson version, JVJ sold (or gave) the factory to the workers.

 

[narrows101]

Oscar nominee class photo from the nominee luncheon on Monday - Hugh is right next to the statue (next to Jessica Chastain) and Anne is two rows behind him.

 

[narrows101]

Hugh and Jessica Chastain were on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night - there's a video if you click on the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...t-appearance-Jay-Leno-show.html#axzz2K32blF3z

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...t-appearance-Jay-Leno-show.html#ixzz2K3360tiK

 

[danoyse]

How did I totally miss Hugh on the Tonight Show??

I got the Les Miserables: Stage to Screen book today. It's really cool! It comes with all of these extras like replicas of tickets, posters from the various stage versions, and Valjean's parole letter from the movie.