I came here to catch up on Les Mis filming news, but I never thought I'd be unable to read the thread because of spoilers! Damn. I don't want to read how they filmed the finale, so I guess I'll duck out for awhile. Who knew you could know a musical inside and out and still have to watch out for spoilers?
You people do carry on so about such insignificant things before the final product even hits the shelves: bangs, goatees, mustaches, certain actors facial features, hair flips, steps on sets that will mostly likely all be CGI'ed out before the film is released.
You people do carry on so about such insignificant things before the final product even hits the shelves: bangs, goatees, mustaches, certain actors facial features, hair flips, steps on sets that will mostly likely all be CGI'ed out before the film is released.
Really people? C'mon!
Yes, we should all take lessons from you as to what to carry on about. 'Cause Lord knows, you never do that.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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best12, I thought of you last night. I was watching Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, and Simon Woods' (Mr. Bingley) haircut is VERY reminiscent of Mr. Redmayne's in the photos we've seen. And I thought to myself "Look at you, with your boy band haircut!"
"Are we being attacked or entertained?" - MST3K
My theatre poster/logo portfolio: http://www.listenterprises.com/
I think I first raised an eyebrow at it when half the Jets in the last West Side Story revival sported "boy band hair." Flips and spikes abounded.
It's certainly not a mortal sin, but it's sort of the modern equivalent of Streisand and other Ziegfeld girls with their teased up '60s beehives in Funny Girl. You definitely know exactly when that movie was made.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
I agree, but I think over the last 20 years, things have gotten much better, as far as going for authenticity over trendiness.
I was impressed with Titanic at the time, and 15 years later, I don't think it has a "dated" look to it at all. It's true to the period. Perhaps it's still too soon to judge it, but at least Leonardo (or any other younger male in the cast) didn't have boy-band hair. The women's wigs were all great, too.
Ever since then, I think people have tried harder (in general).
But looking at period movies from the '40s through the '70s, in particular, the hairstyles and makeup are almost always slightly out of step.
EDIT: If you ever really want to fry your brain, watch "Pride & Prejudice" made by MGM in the 1940s, starring Greer Garson. They all wear hoop skirts and huge dresses from the 1860s, which I assume is when its set for the film, even though the story is from the early (Empire-waisted) days of the 1800s, and they all have 1940s "rolled" hairdos, right out of the MGM salon.
Nothing like an 1810 story with 1860s clothes and 1940s hairstyles to really cross your eyes.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Russell has been great in periodically keeping people guessing as to what they are filming.
Russell Crowe @russellcrowe I know it's him, he knows I know...when I confront him tonight, I'll be all... "Valjean...at last..we see each other plain." #lesmis
Russell Crowe? @russellcrowe 5 km stat bike 4 x 500m splits rower, light weights, 10 lengths 30m pool. Going to be singing and sword fighting all the doo dah day
Russell Crowe? @russellcrowe My voice is pinging off the rafters , cool, will probably sing the confrontation 50 times during the course of the day #lesmis
Somebody cast as Azelma, the Thenardier's other daughter and Eponine's sister who was in the book but not in the show?
Abi Woolston @Abiwoolston So jealous of @Catherinewoo playing the onscreen daughter of Helena Bonham-Carter + Sacha Baron Cohen in #lesmis! #siblingrivalry!!!
Some tweet reactions at CinemaCon after Universal's Les Mis presentation -
Moisés Chiullan @moiseschiu LES MISERABLES teaser has Hathaway absolutely crushing "I Dreamed A Dream", recorded live on set. Raw, captivating, passionate. #cinemacon
Tristone Cinemas @TristoneCinemas First footage from Les Miserables shows Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman in top form.
Michael Dequina@twotrey23 says Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" = different,appropriately quieter for film & more teary & emotional... #LesMizMovie #fb
All Things Fangirl@loquaciousmuse Just saw first ever footage of Les Mis. Only like 90 seconds and it had me bawling. F*CKin Hooper.
Steve Nash @SteveNashLA Universal presentation at CinemaCon was unbelievably good. TED looks ridiculously funny. Also saw 60 secs of LES MIS. Breathtaking.
Steven Weintraub ? @colliderfrosty Also they world premiered a 40 second teaser type trailer for LES MIS movie. Holy ****. Looks insane. Filled with emotion. WOW.
All Things Fangirl ? @loquaciousmuse @erincmccarthy they just showed les mis footage!! I cried!! Ahhh!!!
All Things Fangirl ? @loquaciousmuse @colliderfrosty @erincmccarthy wow only 40 seconds that was?? Powerful 40 seconds, damn.
Steven Weintraub ? @colliderfrosty @loquaciousmuse @erincmccarthy the 40 seconds of footage almost got me. Man, Anne Hathaway can SING!
The "barricade boys" as they call themselves, aren't needed again until May 7 and then according to one of them, will be filming for three weeks. Hugh, Russell and Anne have been filming this week. When they filmed the LaMarque stuff in Greenwich, Hugh was back in NYC since he wasn't needed in those scenes.
Ugh, I wish I was there. I'm hoping Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" is somewhat similar to the popular Canadian singer/songwriter Allison Crowe, whose version I really loved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvFqskhzm44
Because the new Tom Hooper film is still in production, Universal didn’t have much to show from the new Victor Hugo adaptation, but what I did see was pretty fantastic. Most of the footage consisted of single shots of characters in costume and out of context, but what really stuck with me was the music. Playing over the entire trailer was a rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream” sung by Anne Hathaway, and it was spectacular. As previously reported, most of the singing in the film is being done on screen rather than in a studio, and it added a certain raw quality to the sound that fit in perfectly with the tone and look of the movie.
quote: 'Les Misérables' Footage of Anne Hathaway Singing 'I Dreamed a Dream' Screens at CinemaCon By Brent Lang
Move over Susan Boyle: Anne Hathaway is the next diva putting a distinctive spin on "I Dreamed a Dream," based on early footage of "Les Misérables" that Universal screened at CinemaCon on Thursday.
Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson warned the audience at the exhibition trade show in Las Vegas that the early look still hadn't been touched up.
Hathaway's singing was captured on the set -- something Fogelson said Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech") planned to do as much as possible.
"It is raw and it is real," Fogelson said.
The footage, set to the Broadway show's famous ballad, contained glimpses of Russell Crowe as the obsessed Inspector Javert and Hugh Jackman as the reformed convict, Jean Valjean. There were also quick shots of Eddie Redmayne as Marius, a student activist, and Amanda Seyfried as Valjean's adopted daughter, Cosette, all set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.
But it was Hathaway and her vocal talents that were most prominently on display.
Get ready musical lovers: "Les Misérables" hits theaters on Dec. 14.
Crowe tweeted yesterday that he did 23 takes of "Stars", all full-on, he sounded wiped in his tweet. Meanwhile, a description of the teaser from Ain't It Cool News:
>CinemaCon 2012: Monty Cristo Has Heard (and Seen) the LES MISERABLES Teaser Trailer! Published at: Apr 30, 2012 9:00:45 PM CDT
"Monty Cristo" here again...
The reason I point out "heard" in that headline is that, as much fancy 3D footage as I saw last week, this particular thing stood out due to the way it sounded. Universal is taking a gamble on Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper, who has made the artistic choice to record all of his actors singing live on set, rather than dubbing and autotuning later.
This is a landmark moment inthe history of the cinema musical. I can think of few times in the modern sound era when this has been done, aside from James Brown doing one song this way in THE BLUES BROTHERS.
This is also an enormous gamble if you ask some, but from where I sit, I have to say that it's about damn time.
I've enjoyed loads of musicals for decades, but they all suffer from the same design issue: they all play like feature-length music video playlists, hermetically sealed in the glossy, pretty world of the same old song and dance (quite literally).
The teaser is very brief, showing brief clips of Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean as a prinsoner with a shaved head and as a gentleman later, Russell Crowe's Inspector Javert scowling, and Anne Hathaway as tragic Fantine in various stages of despair. The audio that plays over the action is her unvarnished, raw rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream", which could not be more different than the Susan Boyle rendition that is most vivid in the mass audience's memory. It's affected, bruised, and profoundly sad. It is easily the most impressive screen singing that Hathaway has done yet, and I think most of that is owed to it not being muddled with studio "enhancement".
For those who are bored by screen musicals (or simply don't find them immersive), I think much of that is due to it lacking the truly cathartic, raw experience of hearing it live. It really does make a difference to hear it that way.
They're only a couple of weeks into shooting, and from what studio types were saying at the presentation, they are very nervous about how this "radical" take will be received. If you ask me, they should debut it on live TV during something like THE VOICE. I'll go so far as to say that they're nuts if they don't.
As much as you have all gotta see LIFE OF PI footage to believe it, I can't wait for you all to HEAR this.
UPDATE: Not shown in the footage was newcomer Samantha Barks as Eponine, whose casting I wrote about back in late January.
It looks like the use of live vocals has become such an attractive part of the movie musical version of Les Miserables, as other film sites have commented on this particularly aspect. Very good promotion from the marketing team of Universal Pictures as this was a very brief teaser of less than a minute.
Hope AICN, one of the most widely-read film sites, continues to be fully supportive as it can certainly bring in a totally different demographics to a Les Miserables movie audience. Although some of the fanboys know Hugh Jackman as a different movie character