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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:28 AM PST

Where music is concerned, Les Misérables is untouchable.

IF the Les Misérables film had been made 25 years ago when the idea was first mooted to producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, 66, it might have turned out a totally different show – not only because of the calibre of the younger cast members, but also the musical training that most of them have.

"Even though we were going to do it 25 years ago, thank God we didn't. This amazing cast we've got were either in school, were babies or they hadn't been born yet.

"I don't believe we would have ever found such an extraordinary cast – most of them having a background in musical theatre that would have been able to tell the story through music in the magnificent way they all have done," said Mackintosh.

Anne Hathaway has already proven herself a formidable actress, but the likes of Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks really held their own in the film.

The three actors make up the "trinity" of Les Mis: the daughter of a wealthy mayor and the student rebel who fall in love while a third person – the daughter of thieves – pining for the latter.

So connected at these three characters in the story that Mackintosh explains that the producers even adopted the same strategy of casting the three younger characters as they usually do on stage.

"You can't cast Eponine (played beautifully by Samantha Barks), Cossette (Seyfried) and Marius separately, we always cast the three together," he said.

At the press conference to promote the film in London, all three spoke about how desperately they had wanted to get the part.

"I sent in three different tapes in the course of a month," she said. "I finally met Tom (Hooper, the director) in Los Angeles and I thought we had this kind of connection, and I kind of knew right there that he was going to fight for me."

Still, it was a long and painful process which took four months before she finally got the affirmative answer she was hoping for. Like Seyfried, Redmayne too had sent in an audition tape, taken using his phone,.

While the two were relatively established – Seyfried had experience in film musicals such as Mamma Mia! and Redmayne is a Tony-award winning actor with film experience – this is Barks' first foray onto the big screen.

The young actress, 22, has only had a short-stage career, but she had a trump card. In Les Mis, Barks reprises her role as Eponine, which she had played in London's West End prior to the commencement of the shooting for the film.

But if she thought that the experience was going to make things easier for her, she was in for a surprise.

"I've been singing in theatre, so I thought, 'Oh, singing live would be something I'm comfortable with' but there was lots of challenges that you won't come across in theatre, one being the big rain machine which sort of followed me around for a lot of the film," she shared.

It wasn't just Barks who found the experience challenging. Redmayne, 30, spoke about the pressures of living up to expectations and being able to turn in a good performance, especially since most of scenes involved live singing.

"I grew up listening to Michael Ball who sang this part (in the stage production) and it is the version of Empty Table And Empty Chairs, it's the one that (people) know and love.

"And the stakes get higher throughout shooting because you'd come into set and you'd hear whispers on set of the crew going, 'Oh, my god, did you hear Anne singing I Dreamed A Dream, it was breathtaking'," he shared.

Then there is also the fact that they had to sing live over and over again. Hooper had earlier mentioned that Redmayne's Empty Tables solo which features in the film is the last of 21 takes shot in one day. The director was happy with seven, but the actor would not have it.

"With theatre, you can mend it the next day; if you screw it up, you can try to do it better. Here, I knew that I leave at the end of that day and you could never do anything about it , you would have to wait six months and be disappointed with what you've done, which tends to be the sort of case.

"So we did, I think, seven takes, and Tom said, 'I think we got it, mate'. I went, 'No, no no, we'll keep going until there's actually blood coming out of my eyes!' said Redmayne.

Even Seyfried's Mamma Mia! experience – she was one of the leads in that film – didn't make it easier for her, describing Les Mis as "a completely different animal".

"Mamma Mia! didn't feel to me like a musical by the time I really got involved in this. At the same time, I took a little bit of that confidence in me that I had done something that kind of worked in a way, but this is the biggest challenge of my career and I can't even compare it," the 27-year-old actress explained.

Tough as it was for all of them, few who have watched the show would disagree that they really shone. In fact, even their older and more experienced colleagues acknowledge this.

Interrupting Seyfried talking about how challenging the experience was, lead actor Hugh Jackman said: "Not many singers can hit a High C over and over and over and over again."

She then responded: "You know what, I probably hit that twice out of like eight times" to which Jackman just shook his head and said, "Stop, just stop" to the amusement of everyone in the room.

Despite the challenges, however, the talent of the younger cast members is evident in the film version of Les Mis. In fact, it wouldn't be too far wrong to say that the trio – together with Hathaway and 12-year-old stage actor Daniel Huttlestone who reprises his role as Gavroche – stole the show. – By Niki Cheong

Broadway musical Les Misérables makes its way to the silver screen

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:27 AM PST

Banish those worries – the Hollywood film version of Les Misérables remains truthful to the stage version.

FOR over 27 years, fans of musical theatre have been entertained and thrilled by the wonderful stage musical that is Les Misérables.

Whether on Broadway in New York, or in London where the musical premiered or on the many different stages around the world (and in a variety of languages), Les Misérables rarely disappoints because of the strength of the words and the music of Frenchmen Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and Herbert Kretzmer's English-language libretto.

"I don't know any other musical that has ever had this extraordinary life," said producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh in an interview at Claridges Hotel in London.

Mackintosh was also behind the original staging of the musical in 1985.

Today, the musical has finally come to Malaysia albeit in the form of a film which features a star-studded cast list including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway.

The musical is based on French novelist Victor Hugo's book of the same name, set mostly during the June Rebellion of 1832 in Paris. Many years before the uprising, Jean Valjean, a prisoner who has just earned his ticket of leave breaks parole. Javier, the police inspector who released him, spends many years searching for him.

Those concerned that Hollywood may have taken liberties with one of the most popular musicals of all time can heave a sigh of relief – the film version of Les Mis, as it is commonly referred to, remains true to the stage version.

The cinematic version features all the songs as well as a new one written by Schönberg, and has brought together the original creative team who worked closely on the production.

"It was essential to us from day one when we started talking to Cameron and Claude-Michel and all that they stayed close creatively," said producer Eric Fellner at the same press conference in London. "Actually, it was (director Tom Hooper) that insisted they stay very close creatively to the whole process so that we could ensure that we were making a film that was absolutely would appeal to the fans of the musical."

The film stuck to the essence of the stage version, keeping dialogue to a minimum, making it essentially sung-through. Besides that, Hooper also insisted that most of the scenes – particularly the solos and duets – be performed live, with an on-set accompaniment playing music into ear-pieces on the actors.

To prepare for this, all the actors went through nine weeks of gruelling rehearsals. Jackman, who plays the lead role of Jean Valjean and has had years of musical theatre experience, said that it was "as intense a rehearsal period as it is for any theatrical show".

This, he explains, is quite different from his experiences in other film productions.

"Normally, on a film, the rehearsals could be a little half-hearted, (there would be) discussions, people will give half performances.

"(This) was not like that. Tom was literally moving in his chair, being three feet away from us, being a camera right from the beginning," he explained.

If it was hard for the actors in rehearsals, it would have been tougher on the set. They had to deal with the realities of film – many takes for each scene ("He doesn't care," Hathaway joked, when answering a question about Hooper's many takes of them singing live), technical difficulties as well as other elements including rain machines.

In addition, this was the first time singing live on film for most of the actors; one could imagine how this would take its toll on them. However, this was not the case as Hooper gave an example of actor Eddie Redmayne who gave exemplary performances as Marius singing the heart-wrenching song Empty Chairs And Empty Tables.

"He sang that 21 times and he would have kept going. And as you can see in take 21 (the take which ended up in the film), there was no issue of vocal stamina," Hooper shared.

The reason for making his actors sing to live accompaniment was to give them the freedom to explore their characters and stories.

"When you have the freedom to change scenes, as Anne did with I Dreamed A Dream to change the tempo faster or slower, it means each take is a unique event. I wanted to put her in a place where she wouldn't be compromised in her interpretation," he said.

The method truly paid off. While it appeared to be an odd decision to use so many close-ups in the film – at times coming across like one was peering into a fishbowl of singing actors – there were moments that were total gems.

A case in point is Hathaway's rendition of I Dreamed A Dream, with the whole song in the film coming from one take.

Most of the women in the show, including Amanda Seyfried and (a cameo-of-sorts by) Helena Bonham Carter, were outstanding in their roles, but Hathaway was particularly spellbinding in her role as Fantine, a factory worker who finds herself jobless and on the streets, and having to turn to prostitution. Her performance has already garnered her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and generated Oscar buzz.

Like most of the others, Hathaway has never sung live on film before and said that it was a new concept for her, considering that with her training in musical theatre, "you're used to telling a story through the song that would resonate with however big your audience is that you're playing to in the theatres".

"But the language of film is so different from the language of theatre and I was so excited to take this iconic song that is so beloved and find a way to put it through the prism of film, and that meant having to go very, very deep inside myself to some uncomfortable places," said Hathaway.

Indeed, things at time got really uncomfortable for the actor. In talking about the amount of research she had to do – looking at how women were in that period, as well as reading up on sex slaves in modern society – she said: "Sometimes you have so much in common with your character that you feel like you should return your paycheque. This was not one of those times."

Still, so committed to the role of Fantine was Hathaway that she even suggested to Hooper that a scene where the character has to sell her locks was really her hair being cut on camera live.

"I was of the opinion that as much of the physical transformations could be real, they ought to be real," she explained.

There were also sacrifices from the others. Jackman, for example, lost 15kg for the early scenes of him as a freshly released prisoner and then had to quickly put it all back on ("that bit was fun, by the way," he joked) for the other scenes.

Hooper also wasn't too keen on doubles, the actors hinted, and in one scene, Jackman had to carry Redmayne himself.

"Eddie is a very trim guy, but he is not as light as he looks!" added Jackman . "I constantly wanted to call for a double, like a jockey or someone to come in."

In that sense, many parts of the film will come across as real, both in terms of being honest to the original musical and also to the characters.

Les Mis is set to be a big hit, and has already received mostly positive reviews. In the mind of the producers, however, this is as good as it can get.

"There's no doubt in my mind that this film will live forever," said Mackintosh. But they never took it for granted.

He concluded: "Everybody worked hard in creating something new, rather than just going, 'Oh, it's Les Mis, it's a big hit'. We had to prove it."

>Les Misérables opens nationwide today.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 25 Disember 2012

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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