Les Miz Movie Cut Songs- Page 2

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/26/11 at 4:03pm

If you ask a casual fan what songs they know from Les Mis, Castle on a Cloud is in the top four (I Dreamed a Dream because of Susan Boyle, sadly, Bring Him Home, and Master of the House being the others). There's no way they're losing that song.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/26/11 at 4:05pm

"I was hoping it would be sung by a little animatronic mouse in a very high pitched voice who's living in poverty in the walls but comes out to get a piece of cheese and sings a song of hope for a better life."

Tammy Grimes does the voice or it's not happening.

[sueb1863]

Posted: 10/26/11 at 6:48pm

I think 'Turning' is a goner. It was only put in the show so the women in the cast would have something to do after the barricade scenes. There's no reason for it to be in the movie. They might keep a few lines.

I agree that CoaC won't be cut. Little Cosette's on the poster and it's her only major song.

Little Fall of Rain will stay in, I think. Eponine is a hugely popular character and this song is pretty crucial for her. I think fans would feel cheated if she just died and got carted off.

I don't think a three hour or so running time is totally impossible. Epics such as Lord of the Rings and Titanic have conditioned audiences to accept long running times for big films.

As for the finale, that'll probably be the screenplay's single biggest problem. It won't be done the way it is on stage as that theatrical sort of ending simply won't work on film. My guess is they'll completely rewrite it or cut out everything after Valjean dies and simply show his grave as the scene fades out. There probably won't be any 'Do You Hear the People Sing' reprise. It's going to be very tricky to make the ending work.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 10/26/11 at 10:20pm

Jordan, Have you seen the Downton Abbey spoof? The little mouse puppet in that would be perfect casting.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 1:48am

LOL.

Funny how every one is all "they will..." or "Yes, it will be _____." XD

I think a cutie mousie singing COAC randomly thrown in will be genius/modern/cute/2012/MUCH needed update/different/ah-mah-zin. This will sell an extra million tickets. So it is something that WILL happen!

Posted: 10/27/11 at 2:28am

I love that Downton Abbey spoof.

I agree Castle on a Cloud won't be cut, but I'm worried how it will be used--but it is one of the iconic songs, I remember as a kid before I knew the musical it was one of the ones I had heard quite a bit.

I really hate this trend of making through sung musicals on stage, into spoken/song musicals on film. It kinda worked in Dreamgirls--although at the showing I went to "Family" was also greeted with laughter (and actually more, confusion--I heard several people say loudly "What? This is a musical?") But for Rent, Phantom of the Opera (where they inanely kept the rhymed couplets but spoke them..) andand maybe especially Les Miz (I feel like I'm blanking on another recent example here), it actually makes less sense in film for me.

Hairspray is a different case--it's almost like Little Shop of Horrors, in that being in many ways a cartoony satire audiences don't have much problem with the bursting into song moments.

But a piece like Les Miz has such stylized singing and storytelling anyway--that even with a realistic direction (more or less like Evita, even if that wasn't IMHO entirely successful), I think keeping it sung through is easier on audiences.

Audiences get used to it quickly--but when you have big dialogue bits and then sung in those kinds of "popera" musicals, I think it just makes the whole thing more awkward. But it would help cut on time I suppose...

[sueb1863]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 6:27am

My impression is that they're going to be using *some* dialogue, but I haven't seen any evidence that indicates there's going to be a lot of it. My guess is that it will still be mostly sung. It'll probably end up being like the film version of 'Evita', which only had a few brief passages of spoken dialogue.

I think if they keep the opening as it is on stage, audiences will know and accept the mosty-music format. And there shouldn't be any doubt that it's a musical, I'm sure there will be a media onslaught before the movie opens informing people of that fact. Unlike 'Sweeney Todd', whose trailer was cut so that you really couldn't tell it was a musical, 'Les Miz' should make it obvious right from the start.

[p.s.]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 9:17am

I agree Castle on a Cloud won't be cut, but I'm worried how it will be used--


I think it opens the film, while the title credits are still running -- but only the first half of the song:

There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren't any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

...
Nobody shouts or talks too loud,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

There is a lady all in white,
Holds me and sings a lullaby,
She's nice to see and she's soft to touch,
She says "Cosette, I love you very much."

...
Crying at all is not allowed,
Not in my castle on a cloud.


The view is of Young Cosette with broom, alone in the inn (or perhaps even, in a theater type staging of the inn), with some vague vision of her thoughts of a lady all in white.


The movie then begins with transition from Cosette looking up to the prison/galley scene and Look Down.



p.s. This is fun.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 9:41am

My gut feeling tells me that TURNING will be cut.

I doubt LITTLE PEOPLE will be resurrected, but I also see Gavroche still being a part of the action as is.

As I have stated many times, I will only believe this movie is being made and what songs are in or out or who is playing who as I am sitting through the closing credits... whenever that might be

[Fan2]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 9:51am

It's definitely happening - filming start date is March 5 and release date is Dec. 7. Hugh has said rehearsals are in January and February.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:29am

But they did mess up some of Dreamgirls with their decisions. When Effie comes back with lawyers and she's sitting in the office talking to Deena, they were speaking some of the lyrics of the song, but it wasn't nearly as effective as when they sang them in the stage version. There just wasn't the inensity that the music provided.

[Rebekah1833]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 9:56pm

Well, if you look at the videos released from the movie, you can see a glimpse of A Little Fall of Rain. As a 13 year old Eponine fan & a les mis fan overall, cutting A.L.F.O.R. would be a TERRIBLE decision! That scene is where Marius finally realizes how much he loves Eponine & how much she means to him. Cutting that scene would be terrible for the movie. I've seen Samantha Barks' version of A.L.F.O.R. before and she does an incredible job!
I would hate to see Castle on a Cloud go! It's such an important moment that shows how gentle and optimistic, yet still afraid and small, Cosette is.
I think Dog Eats the Dog is going to stay because if you remember in the wedding scene, Thenardier talks about seeing Valjean in the sewers, without D.E.t.D., it wouldn't make since!
I think some scenes like the beginning of ABC Cafe, Eponine's Errand, some of The Robbery, Some battle scenes will most likely be changed to some dialogue. That alone should shorten the musical!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 10:03pm

Christ.

[Fan2]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 10:14pm

From the leaked screenplay that has since been removed, all the songs are there, albeit some of the lyrics have been changed which IMO makes it flow a lot better. Whether they stay in the final cut on the screen is another matter, but it looks like all of them have been filmed.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 9:31am

I think Dog Eats the Dog is going to stay because if you remember in the wedding scene, Thenardier talks about seeing Valjean in the sewers, without D.E.t.D., it wouldn't make since!

You can just physically see someone without singing before or after.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 9:38am

Agreed, Wynbish. I, personally, HATE "Dog Eat Dog." It's a terrible song to have to endure. Unfortunately, it's included in the script that was leaked. I'll just tune out during that part. The song is totally unnecessary for film. He doesn't need to be describing to us what he's doing. We all can see.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 10:23am

"I'll just tune out during that part."

Concession stand break during Dog Eat Dog. How funny will it be if you order a hot dog at the concession stand while Dog Eat Dog is playing in the background?

[Wildcard]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 6:53pm

Tweet from one of Variety's contributors:

@TheInSneider Hearing Les Miserables is running close to 3 hrs & studio has no plans to cut it down. Guess fans will get the epic they've been waiting for

[Owen22]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 7:12pm

Personally, I would not cry if "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is excised.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 7:35pm

I would! Eddie Redmayne has a gorgeous voice!

[jo]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 7:47pm

This bears repeating ---

>>>@TheInSneider Hearing Les Miserables is running close to 3 hrs & studio has no plans to cut it down. Guess fans will get the epic they've been waiting for<<<

Having read the screenplay, this sounds very credible. Also, the test screening on October 6 ( Arclight) was supposed to have gone extremely well - and maybe the creatives/producers/Universal may have decided that the film deserves the length of an epic!

Wow - three whole hours of Les Miserables, but in a cinema!!






Updated On: 10/23/12 at 07:47 PM

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 10/23/12 at 8:22pm

I certainly hope that this is true and that they don't cut it down - cuts of beloved songs have ruined other film adaptations of musicals for me. Let's hope that they get this one right!

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 11:15am

By all accounts, they got this one right. Unfortunately, I think it's going to be what they used to call a prestige picture, not a socko hit.

It's like the MGM of old, where once a year they did an artistic winner (but financial loser) "for prestige." They're not making cuts? Good for them. They're standing by the picture. But I hope they don't think they're going to make any money. Maybe it'll more or less break even.

With luck, it'll show up heavily at the Oscars. But don't expect a record-breaker.

[p.s.]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 11:23am

I'm thinking it's not really a full three hours. Maybe more like two and a half hours, plus fifteen minutes of credits.


p.s. And then another fifteen minutes of Sacha Baron Cohen outtakes!

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 11:45am

I'm not so sure that keeping the musical intact would lead to financial losses. The Rent film was no great commercial success, since the fans of Rent were alienated by cutting important songs, while non-musical lovers wouldn't have been an audience of the film anyway. Here they have a chance to not alienate the musical's many pre-existing fans, and if the emotional power is intact, they can grab new ones along the way who hadn't seen the stage musical previously.

Being long didn't stop Titanic or Avatar from becoming the highest-grossing films ever at the time that they were released, in addition to their artistic achievements. Being artistically and financially successful are not mutually exclusive things. Often the former can lead to the latter, though i am not claiming that they are the same thing of course either.