Les Miserables Movie Auditions/Casting Info

[Fan2]

Info about casting, when it starts filming, etc. Click on the link at the very end to get to the page about casting info and how to apply for an audition.

Story:

http://www.examiner.com/acting-auditions-in-los-angeles/auditions-and-casting-for-universal-pictures-film-adaptation-of-les-miserables

>Auditions and casting for Universal Pictures film adaptation of 'Les Miserables'
By Alan Baltes

Working Title Films and Universal Pictures are in pre-production on the British live-action musical film adaptation of "Les Miserables". The casting directors are auditioning actors for the lead and supporting roles, and smaller roles will be cast afterwards. The extras, stand-ins and photo doubles for the actors will be hired closer to the beginning of principal photography, which will commence in mid-March, 2012.

The lead actors cast in "Les Miserables" so far include Golden Globe Award nominated Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Academy Award winner Russell Crowe as Javert, Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush as Monsieur Thenardier, two-time Academy Award nominee Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier, Academy Award nominee Anne Hathaway as Fantine, and five-time Teen Choice Award winner Emma Watson as Cosette.

Academy Award winner Tom Hooper will direct "Les Miserables" from an adopted screenplay written by two-time Academy Award winning scribe William Nicholson. Hooper directed the 2010 film "The King's Speech" which won four Academy Awards and a Golden Globe, among countless other prestigious film awards. "Les Miserables" is adapted from the London musical and the 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo, which is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

Details on how talent can submit for acting roles, and registration information for extras can be found on the following casting post:

Universal Pictures "Les Miserables" Casting Calls and Auditions [click on link]
Auditions Information

[jo]

Thanks!

It looks like things are moving along fine. What a stellar cast!

Valjean - Jackman
Javert - Crowe
Fantine - Hathaway
Cosette - Watson
Thenardier - Rush
Mme Thenardier - Carter

[ILOHTFAHA (Aida Man)]

Is the Examiner a credible source?

[Fan2]

All I know is, the author Alan Baltes posts audition and casting info all the time. He has a Facebook page if you want to check it out.

[eatlasagna]

reading that article kinda made me chuckle because you have Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated/winner actors and with Emma it's 5 time Teen Choice Award winner... and if it is true I'm excited because I do like Emma Watson.. just found that funny

[EVIE]

I love me some Geoffrey Rush and am just uber excited about this!

[beautywickedlover]

Are we 100% postive that Waston has been confirmed? If she has then I can't wait to see her in this film and see what her singing will be like.

[SporkGoddess]

I hope Emma Watson has a good soprano voice.

[best12bars]

I just hope that if she doesn't, they dub her. I think she'll be great in the part, but if she can't hit a high Q, don't make her. Find someone else to do it.

It's "the movies," dang it! Call in a stunt man!

[EVIE]

"It's "the movies," dang it! Call in a stunt man!"

LOL! So true...

[EponineThenardier]

I'm definitely loving this cast list so far. VERY happy if Emma gets to take a stab at this, although I would have preferred her Eppy.

Someone suggested Ben Walker, he'd be fab for either Marius or Enjolras. I guess Dan Radcliffe is tied up doing "Succeed" still and can't be considered right?

[jo]

>>>I guess Dan Radcliffe is tied up doing "Succeed" still and can't be considered right? <<<

His H2$ run ends at the beginning of 2012.

[best12bars]

If I had my druthers, Radcliffe would play Marius and Benjamin Walker would play Enjorlas. Pretty fantastic cast, if they can swing it.

[B3TA07]

"I just hope that if she doesn't, they dub her. I think she'll be great in the part, but if she can't hit a high Q, don't make her. Find someone else to do it."

I wish I could hit a high Q.

[rougeduck]

I think Ben Walker would be a fantastic Enjorlas. And I think by that time he will be kinda known, what with his Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter flick.

[EponineThenardier]

best, those would be my casting choices exactly

Is Lucy Hale still considered the frontrunner for Eponine?

[ILOHTFAHA (Aida Man)]

EponineThenardier, last time I checked she was.

[madbrian]

As much as I like Radcliffe, I don't see him Marius. Sticking with the H2$ theme, however, I could see Darren Criss in that role.

I suggested Benjamin Walker for Enroljas on another thread, so I'll join the chorus here supporting him for that role.

A weird suggestion: if Watson can't sing the role and needs to be dubbed, how strange would it be for Hathaway to sing it? Fantine doesn't require a soprano, so the voice may not be immediately recognizable, and she is playing her daughter.

[best12bars]

A weird suggestion: if Watson can't sing the role and needs to be dubbed, how strange would it be for Hathaway to sing it? Fantine doesn't require a soprano, so the voice may not be immediately recognizable, and she is playing her daughter.

It's interesting you suggest that. A similar thing happened in the 1952 film "Moulin Rouge," starring Jose Ferrer.

The lovely (and I'm begin genuine in that praise) Zsa-Zsa Gabor played Jane Averill in the movie and performed the beautiful song "It's April Again (Theme from Moulin Rouge)." Her physicality is perfect and she strikes all of these wonderful poses and gestures right out of Lautrec's sketches, posters, and paintings of the famous chanteuse.

But Zsa-Zsa didn't do her own singing. She was dubbed by African-American theatre and opera star Muriel Smith, who also appears in the film as the dancer Aicha (the rival of La Goulue). So she's on-screen as a dancer, and her singing voice is heard through Zsa-Zsa. Muriel, by the way, also dubbed Juanita Hall in the film South Pacific. And on Broadway, she was the original Carmen Jones.

Another example! Russ Tamblyn's singing was dubbed in West Side Story by Tucker Smith, who is in the movie playing Ice.

EDIT: Another interesting notion: Since Cosette is Fantine's daughter, why shouldn't she sound a bit like "mom?" I'm not implying that Emma Watson needs help with the vocals. I have no idea. I just don't think it's that big of a deal if she does. I think it's a much bigger deal if she sings it badly.


Zsa Zsa Gabor with Muriel Smith's voice in

[Fan2]

I'm not sure in this day and age, with the internet and all and everything being scrutinized, and especially with a movie of this caliber, that anyone can be dubbed. Just look at the audition that Crowe had to go through and also read that Hugh had to do a three-hour audition at least once. So it sounds like they are going for the best actors and singers that they can.

[best12bars]

I'm sure you're right. I doubt Emma would have gotten the role if she couldn't do it. And I'm sure she had a rigorous audition process as well, just like everyone else.

I still think it's funny how people freak out about dubbing but then have no problem when an action star uses a stunt double. They don't take anything away from his performance as an "action hero" when it isn't even him (or her) in the action scene.

But I also think it's funny when audiences have a problem with actors singing in movie musicals because that isn't "real." But they can watch an action sequence with an 80 piece orchestra accompanying a bank robbery. The last time I checked, there weren't a "gang of musicians" playing away outside Wells Fargo, either. Also, when an action hero falls forty feet and gets shot, and in the next scene he's fine without a single bruise. But if he opens his mouth to sing, they can't handle it.

[jo]

>>>and also read that Hugh had to do a three-hour audition at least once.<<<

Did he have to sing the whole musical score, songs and recitatives all

[best12bars]

I think he even had to sell T-shirts and souvenirs before it started.

[beautywickedlover]

"I'm sure you're right. I doubt Emma would have gotten the role if she couldn't do it. And I'm sure she had a rigorous audition process as well, just like everyone else."

I think so too. She probably has singing experience that no one knows about.

Still, I hope these people are not box office draws. I think Audrey Hepburn was mainly cast as Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady" to bring in audiences. They didn't want an unknown in film, Julie Andrews was one at the time, to play the part. If Hepburn had not accepted the role it might have gone to Elizabeth Taylor. When Hepburn tried to sing the songs they ultimately decided to dub her singing by Marni Nixon. Jeremy Brett also had his dubbing by Bill Shirley. Christopher Plummer and Peggy Wood tried to sing their songs in "The Sound of Music," but their singing had to be dubbed as well.

I also think Minnie Driver was a box office draw for "Phantom of the Opera" because when I found out she was going to play Carlotta I didn't think she had the high soprano voice for the role. So, it didn't surprise me that her singing was dubbed.

Like I said earlier, it would have been best for Pierce Brosnan's singing to be dubbed in "Mamma Mia." If that had happened he would not have gotten such criticism nor would he have gotten the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor.

[beautywickedlover]

Double post by mistake.