Emmy Rossum couldn't sing lyric soprano, though. I think she's gotten a lot better since Phantom, but to me her vocals for Christine were nails-on-a-chalkboard painful. And her acting was bad, but I'm not sure if that can be blamed entirely on her--the movie took out what little characterization Christine had.
I'm far pickier about sopranos than anything else though.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
"Yeah, that's true. And don't get me started on the decision to cast a 16-year-old as Christine, haha."
What made the 16 year old Christine even worse was the age of the two men fighting over her, since Raoul was twice her age and the Phantom was old enough to be her father.
My thoughts exactly, Dave. As far as this movie in particular goes, I think a Les Mis approach is most likely, by which I mean splitting the cast between "name" actors (a la Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe) and less-known but more qualified actors (Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks). Honestly, I don't really know of any actress who would be a good Kim; casting an unknown like they did with Nikki Blonsky in Hairspray might be the best way to go. I do agree with some of the earlier posts that Chris also needs a really strong voice or it would be distracting, hence my support for Tveit. I wonder when they'll announce the movie for certain; since Les Mis has done so well I assume it's essentially a sure thing.
Jeremy Renner would be at least 43 by the time this started filming, if not older (he was born in January of 71). Certainly far past the age where he could pass for a young G.I.
I actually thought of Jason Gordon Levitt the other day, his newly bulked up frame helps him have the look of a young GI, he is a very talented actor, age appropriate and pretty hot right now in Hollywood.
Ben Barnes im not sure would work, plus after several flops im not sure he would be bankable enough now
"All I'm hoping is for a Kim and a Chris that sing the balls out of this!"
Lea, I couldn't agree more.
"It's grit, it's sex, it's sweat, it's heat, it's passion, it's romance, there aren't as many characters so it will be very focused."
There's no getting away with crying through your songs this time. These 2 characters require better singing skills.
They should already start training hopefuls.
In the Les Mis film for example, I feel that Hugh Jackman makes a lot of wrong choices because he doesn't know the music, the material well enough. If he would have played the role for a longer period of time he would never have made those mistakes. It's only logical when you need to learn a hundred scenes/songs in just a few weeks, but the one playing Kim should know the material inside out, and preferably played the role for months already.