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Les Miz: The Musical

post #1 of 8
4/11/02 at 5:51pm
Thread Starter 
With the right director who understand the epic nature of the material, competent actor-singers, Phillip Quast reprising his role from the stage as Javert, a cinematographer, costume designer, and editor who know how to kick ass and take names, and Mandy Moore as Eponine, this movie could be everything MOULIN ROUGE wasn't and everything CHICAGO isn't going to be. As for who should be in it, I think Russell Crowe and Jason Schwartzman could so do it. Edward Norton, too.

Peace.
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post #2 of 8
4/14/02 at 6:53pm
This has come up a few times before; I know Poxy has some opinions on it;

The problem is you'd have to have the right director; some of the stuff would be pretty tricky ("One Day More" works brilliantly on the stage, but you'd have to almost do some form of a montage synched with the music on film).

I'd really love to see what Alan Parker could do if he got his hands on it. I thought Evita was very well done.

I'm not sold on Mandy Moore, but I'm not exactly breathlessly waiting to see her act, so I may just not realize how talented she is.

Quast is great; do you think they should have Colm Wilkinson Valjean (I saw a guy named Frederick C. Inkley as Valjean and he was really good), or go with some new blood?
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post #3 of 8
4/14/02 at 7:07pm
I always had this vision of "One Day More" being done as one long bravura camera shot, like something out of the old MGM musical days. Build a big practical set of the Paris streets, and just glide and pan around to the different characters as the sing their parts of the song. As the song nears its conclusion, everyone starts to converge, and you wrap it up just like in the stage production, with everyone standing together belting it out for all they're worth.

Look at the way Frank Oz shot "Skid Row" for Little Shop of Horrors, that's how I'd love to see Les Miz done.
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post #4 of 8
4/14/02 at 7:08pm
And I always dug Terrence Mann's Javert on the original Broadway cast album.
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post #5 of 8
4/15/02 at 3:26pm
My choice was always Parker for this, as well.

But you never know... maybe there's someone who's great in a different genre just wiating to get his/her hands on a musical.

Before Dancer in the Dark, Lars Von Trier was about the LAST director I'd have thought would be interested in musicals. Not that he'd be very good for Les Miserables, but it just goes to show...

This is just bound for controversy, but Paul Thomas Anderson has some of the ingredients that could work:

He's got an affinity for music and knows how to tie it in to the plot, he's great at juggling multiple subplots, he's got enough clout to generally get final cut (which would be essential for something of this scope), and he's got a knack for the kind of happy/sad dynamic that you get from Les Miserables. Not to mention, he's got a thing for singing, waif-like girls.

Of course, it would also be a sort of non-personal project, and that would be out-of-character.

And I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: Tom Waits as Thernardier.
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post #6 of 8
4/15/02 at 3:32pm
By the way, I don't think a production of this size (and, for it to be good, it would have to be HUGE) could possibly feature the broadway cast.

You'd have to have "names," and that, in itself, could possibly kill the whole thing. I mean, the studio won't even consider Crawford for a Phantom of the Opera movie, and he's far more well-known than Wilkinson.

Actually, I could sort of see Crowe as Javert, though. Can he actually sing or does he just have a passable rock'n'roll voice (if that)?
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post #7 of 8
7/3/02 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 
I think I got this thing figured out.

Edward Norton or Ewan McGregor, bulked up like a monster=Valjean
Russell Crowe=Javert
Nicole Kidman=Fantine
Heath Ledger=Marius
Paul Bettany=Grantire
Hugh Jackman/Ewan McGregor=Enroljas
Daniel Radcliffe=Gavroche
Charlotte Church=Cosette
Mandy Moore=Eponine
Tom Waits=Thenardier
Miranda Richardson=Mdm. Thenardier
Emma Watson=Young Cosette

Special Appearances by:
Colm Wilkinson=The Bishop
Phillip Quast=The Foreman
Lea Salonga=Leader of the "lovely ladies"

Peace out, yo.

Edited because I made a mistake and had Fantine listed twice. Now fixed.

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post #8 of 8
7/3/02 at 3:23pm
Shit, man. As far as I'm concerned, you missed the key role. Though she's barely an afterthought in most of the movie adaptations, Eponine rules in the musical version.

Or was that second Fantine listing (Mandy Moore) a mis-type? I'd almost switch Moore and Church, in that case, as I think the Eponine stuff needs a better range. Plus, Ledger's probably a tad too old for that jailbait.

Doubt we'll ever see McGregor and Kidman together in any musical of any kind ever again and Jackman and McGregor are a little old to be students, but that's pretty damn near an ideal cast. Nice going.
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