HUGH JACKMAN WHATS WITH ALL THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS

Guys, can we please make "spadee" a thing on this board?

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I thought he was fine. The only weak song, I thought, was Bring Him Home, but that's just because I prefer a softer tone at the beginning and end for contrast. It is, after all, a prayer.

I even took the "well, I don't know who else could have done it" with Russell. Anthony Stewart Head maybe would have been great. Also, I'll take Russell's Javert over Pierce's Sam Carmichael.

"I'll take Russell's Javert over Pierce's Sam Carmichael."

I'll take Pierce's Sam Carmichael over Russel's Javert at any time. Because while their "singing" is exactly the same, a comic role is the only way to get (sort of) away with it.

Fair enough. At least they didn't add an extra song just for Russell's character to sing.

Hugh's fine! The movie has grossed over $ 313 million after only a month of release. He has won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical. He has been nominated for an Oscar Best Actor for the role and Goldderby concedes that he has the best chance of upsetting Daniel Day Lewis. The soundtrack has topped the Billboard 200 and the UK Charts - firsts for a film soundtrack for quite sometime. Pretty ironic after all the "complaints" of the singing

He will be singing with others in the Les Miserables cast at the Oscars as part of the tribute musicals portion...and likely to represent the new Les Miserables song, Suddenly.

Not bad!!

Thanks to the success of Les Miserables, more movie musicals will be made. Thank you, Hugh Jackman, and thank you to the entire Les Miserables team.

And thanks to the success of Les Miserables, 'theater people' like Tveit and Barks will probably continue to be cast around Hollywood stars. Again, thanks.

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Hugh's superb acting and singing in LES MIZ have enough power to light up a major city. He more than ably carries the film from start to finish. This past weekend he appeared as the guest artist with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, one of the greatest orchestras in the country, and they don't bother with anything less than exemplary talent. I was fortunate enough to attend and witnessed a performance of "Who Am I?" that blew away a highly discerning audience.

Those who can't, gripe.

He's got a strong voice, I just don't like it.

For most of the film Hugh was fine. BRING HIM HOME was a disappointment to me; mostly because he was straining on the upper notes. Even Hugh said it was difficult in this interview with Michael Reidel. As for Russell Crowe, I was pleasantly surprised by his STARS. It was better than I expected.
Happy Hugh Year

I love Jackman's voice. I'll grant that his "Bring Him Home" isn't the best version I've ever heard, but that's one song out of how many?

And Russell Crowe wasn't nearly as bad as I expected from reading here.

But LES MISERABLES isn't a "sacred" show to me. I can understand that for those of you who love the show so much, disappointment is almost inevitable. But the thing is the studio and producers knew you people would attend no matter what. Jackman and Crowe are there to bring in the general public.

As for MAMMA MIA!, anybody willing to appear in that nonsense should get a pass from us and points for keeping the film musical form alive for another year.

To me, Hugh Jackman sounded like Hugh Jackman- the nasally voice with strong vibrato and slightly flat tone. I don't dislike his voice at all- I grew up hearing it on cast recordings. But to say people were disappointed seems to suggest people haven't heard Hugh Jackman sing a lot before the film.

As for "Bring Him Home," I feel like the reason it was changed stylistically for the film may have been a pragmatic one. Onstage, that number stands out as an exception to Valjean's usual vocal style. In the film, due to the close-up singing style, much of the score was sung quietly and freely in an intimate mix of head and chest voices. The "specialness" of "Bring Him Home" would be gone, so filming it and singing it in a more "active" mode, as a struggle for Valjean emotionally and a cry of weakness, rather than as an intimate moment of silent prayer, made it distinct again.

Whether it works or not is an individual thing, but I didn't mind it too much.

From the KEC link --

>>>But the hardest scene to shoot was my final scene [Jean Valjean, surrounded by Cosette and Marius, is dying; Fantine reappears to bring him to heaven]. We shot it in a chapel. It was 40 degrees. You’re singing a song, and then you die at the end. Acting-wise, there’s a lot going on.<<<

Ironically, when he reprises BRING HIM HOME here is when the most emotionally-charged moment in the movie ( probably on par with I Dreamed a Dream and Empty Chairs) hits home. He sings it softly but it is not the singing style that drives home the message of our own mortality. Very well-acted and sung piece!