Posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 by Angie Han
After months of speculation, rumors, and reports, Tom Hooper‘s Les Misérables has finally found its Éponine. Producer Cameron Mackintosh has just announced that 21-year-old stage vet Samantha Barks has landed the role. Barks is a newcomer when it comes to film and television, but has racked up plenty of experience in the theater — including a stint playing Éponine in a London production of Les Misérables.
Meanwhile, another fresh face, George Blagden, has also boarded the project, in the part of cynical young revolutionary Grantaire. Blagden and Barks join a high-profile cast that includes Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Aaron Tveit. Read more after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 by Angie Han
That Hugh Jackman loves musicals and the theater isn’t a secret, so it’s not surprising that he’s set to make his return to Broadway in the 2013-2014 season. What makes this particular appearance extra special, however, is that he’ll be hitting the stage as the lead of Houdini, the librettist debut of Aaron Sorkin. (This is a completely separate project from the other Houdini, a film by director Francis Lawrence.) Three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien is slated to direct, with Stephen Schwartz writing the music. More details after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 by Angie Han
[Update: Deadline now reports that Seyfried is in final negotiations for the role.]
Tom Hooper‘s already star-studded cast for Les Misérables is about to expand by two more, as news breaks that Amanda Seyfried and Taylor Swift have been offered the roles of Cosette and Éponine, respectively. If Seyfried and Swift accept, they’ll also be joining Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Aaron Tveit, and Eddie Redmayne in the musical, which is due out next winter. Read more after the jump.
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Posted on Thursday, December 29th, 2011 by Angie Han
That Tony Award-winning Broadway vet Hugh Jackman was a great pick to star as Jean Valjean Tom Hooper‘s Les Misérables was never in doubt, but it seems his theater experience may prove even more helpful to the film production than we previously expected. According to a new report, Hooper has ordered his cast to sing live while shooting their scenes, much as they would if they were performing in a stage musical.
The more usual method is to record the vocals in a studio and lip-synch during filming, so Hooper’s decision suggests that we may be seeing something more traditionally theatrical than we’re used to seeing from big-screen musicals. Read more after the jump.
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Posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 by Angie Han
There’s still no word on who’ll be playing Éponine in Tom Hooper‘s Les Misérables, but the project has landed yet another well-known star to play her father. According to LondonNet, Sacha Baron Cohen is set to join Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Eddie Redmayne in the musical, in the role of the villainous inn owner Monsieur Thénardier. Helena Bonham Carter was said to be in talks to play Thénardier’s wife earlier this year, but it’s not clear whether she’s actually attached at this point.
Cohen did a bit of singing in his last big-screen musical, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and is slated to do still more as the lead of that Freddie Mercury biopic from producer Graham King. In terms of non-singing roles, Cohen recently appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, and already has three more movies scheduled to open next year — The Dictator, Madagascar 3, and Django Unchained. Get used to that face, because you’ll be seeing a lot of it in 2012.
Les Misérables opens December 7, 2012. [via The Playlist]
After the jump, a Disney gal decides it’s time to break into more mature territory, and Diablo Cody’s next project finds a mom for Julianne Hough.
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Posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 by Angie Han
The cast of Tom Hooper‘s Les Miserables is already plenty star-studded, with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and up-and-comer Eddie Redmayne all signed on at present — but as anyone familiar with the book or stage musical can attest, that still leaves several juicy roles remaining to be filled.
One of the most notable is the part of Éponine, perhaps best remembered for her big solo number “On My Own,” but that could change soon. According to a new rumor, Scarlett Johansson, Evan Rachel Wood, Lea Michele, and Taylor Swift are competing for the role, though a decision has yet to be made. More details after the jump.
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If Jim Field Smith‘s politically-tinged satire Butter had enjoyed a really strong showing when it debuted at Telluride this year, we might already have seen the movie. Instead, the Weinstein Company has focused on other movies for awards season (The Iron Lady, The Artist and My Week With Marilyn) and is holding Butter for release on March 26, 2012.
And while the Telluride reviews came down to “good, but not great,” there’s still plenty of reason to be interested in the movie: Jennifer Garner playing/parodying Sarah Palin; a reportedly strong dramatic performance from Rob Corddy; a small role from Hugh Jackman as a used car salesman; and, as Pete said in his Telluride coverage, “a sex scene between Twilight star Ashley Greene and Olivia Wilde which will be the talk of the internet.”
That’s Wilde in her getup for the film above, and after the break we’ve got a few more shots from the upcoming comedy. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 by Angie Han
My Week with Marilyn star Eddie Redmayne will join Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway in Tom Hooper‘s prestige musical Les Miserables. Based on the hit Broadway show and Victor Hugo‘s classic novel of the same title, the film follows an ex-con named Valjean (Jackman) in 19th century France as he seeks to redeem himself. Redmayne will play Marius, who falls in love with Cosette, daughter of Fantine (Hathaway) and eventual charge of Valjean.
Les Miserables is already being touted as a likely Oscar contender, with a release date of December 7, 2012. Redmayne isn’t exactly a household name yet, but has marked himself as a talent to watch in projects like The Good Shepherd, My Week with Marilyn, and Hick. [Deadline]
After the jump, Rashida Jones and the guy who played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris befriend Samantha Morton, while David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook picks up a Boardwalk Empire star.
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