Les Mis Filming Has Started

[Fan2]

According to a tweet from Jackman, twitpic attached.

Hugh Jackman ? @RealHughJackman
Day one of Les Mis shoot. Soooo excited!

Filming has Started

[beautywickedlover]

I still do not understand whay Sacha Baren Cohen is not officially confirmed for the film.

[JP2]

Well, with everyone already saying saying he's involved it makes little sense for Universal to spend money on a press release.

[Colle]

Look down!

Now I am looking forward to pictures of the cast in character.

[jo]

Break a leg!

Or is there a different way to say it for making movies?

[a-mad]

boxofficemojo.com just indicated that the release date for Les Miz has moved from Dec 7 to Dec 14 (where it will be up against a little boutique film titled "The Hobbit"). It still indicates that its opening wide... but I'm wondering if it will platform instead.

Why open up against a behemoth when you had the week of Dec 7th to yourself? Is the studio thinking it can pull off a Dark Knight/Mamma Mia! spillover business type of scenario?

[Fan2]

"Hyde Park on the Hudson" was also scheduled for Dec. 7 but in limited release. But yeah, the move a week later is curious.

[JP2]

Doesn't really make much sense, either. It can't be because of any sort of delay because, well, it's just a week.

[jimmycurry01]

Guess I won't be seeing Les Miserables in it's first weekend at the movie theaters after all. Seems a pretty dumb move to have it open on the same day as The Hobbit.

[a-mad]

Its really weird. Typically one of the bigs (deadline, hollywoodreporter, variety, comingsoon) reports on a release date change for a major release... even if its just a week. But I've seen nothing on this at all today. Boxofficemojo has been incredibly reliable in the past, though... so I expect its true.

[JP2]

Yes, I mean, it's not the same situation as TDK/Mamma Mia! where both films are so drastically different from one another with two completely different demographics...

Lez Miz and The Hobbit likely have a lot of overlapping.

[beautywickedlover]

"Is the studio thinking it can pull off a Dark Knight/Mamma Mia! spillover business type of scenario?"

Universal, the film company that is distributing 'Les Miserables', also distributed 'Mamma Mia'. So maybe it was their idea to do this.

The studio also must think that in the past major films competed against each other during the same month and weeks like 'Avatar' as well as the 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Alvin & the Chipmunks' films. The latter two did well competing against 'Avatar' in 2009. Last year although their sequels opened lower than expectations they still did very well at the box office. Some also thought the 'Mission Impossible' film would not do well at the box office in December 2011, but it was the highest-grossing film that month.

I think 'Les Miserables' should have a limited release first like 'Dreamgirls', 'The King's Speech', and 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' and then open in wide release later.

[Fan2]

I wonder if Golden Globe nominations factor in - I think they are released that week and perhaps they are confident of a few and thinking of "momentum."

[jo]

Playlist, which is a respected film site, thinks that Universal has deliberately picked up the gauntlet!

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/les-miserables-moves-to-dec-14th-ten-year-arrives-sept-21st-halloween-3d-gets-taken-off-the-calendar

>>A few changes on the calendar, so get out those dry-erase markers. First up, while every studio has been tiptoeing around "The Hobbit" and its mid-December release date, Universal has finally grabbed their nutsack and said "F*CK that," moving their star-powered musical "Les Miserables" back a week to December 14th. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Gandalf! Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter and more, not only does this have the red carpet appeal of an awards season player, it also has the Broadway history to make mad box office bling. That pic of Crowe up there isn't an official still, but holy **** we wish it was.<<<


Hey, this is LesMis - which has been seen by 60 million people in 42 countries and has been around for quite sometime ( more than 30 years if you count the first Paris staging)!

Universal must have great faith in the movie and must know what it's doing! They did release the all-time box office movie musical champ, Mamma Mia!

[Fan2]

It's also the week before Christmas which is a big movie-going time so maybe that's part of it.

[Wildcard]

I'll be seeing both films on opening weekend and will likely see both more than once.

[Colle]

I plan on seeing both movies in the theater too.

[sueb1863]

Universalpictures.com, the official Universal website, still has the release date as December 7.

[Miranda3]

I just saw a report from the UK that Cleo Laine is subbing for her daughter, Jacqui Dankworth, at a singing gig because Jacqui has accepted a role in "the new Les Mis film" and will be filming at the time of the gig. I had not heard anything re Jacqui Dankworth's being in the film. Has anyone else? If so, what role?

[beautywickedlover]

Double post look below.

[beautywickedlover]

"Well, with everyone already saying saying he's involved it makes little sense for Universal to spend money on a press release."

Helena Bonham Carter at least got one on Playbill.

[jdtp12]

"Well, with everyone already saying saying he's involved it makes little sense for Universal to spend money on a press release."

But if I remember correctly the last thing we've heard about Thénardier was that he was not officially cast, and we haven't heard anything about Baron Cohen since.

[jo]

Tom Hooper was interviewed during BAFTA Awards night ( February 12) and was quoted about his cast members ( which included Sacha Baron Cohen specifically).

[jo]

Eddie Redmayne shares in a recent interview as a fashion personality ( he is a model for Burberry) that they expect filming for Les Miserables to last till June.

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG9134815/Eddie-Redmayne-on-fashion-freckles-and-his-modelling-sideline.html

[My Oh My]

My affections for this musical are so great, I'm both extremely elated and worried about the film version.

I'm really keeping it all quite simple in my head. As a one of the show's most biggest and loyal fans, I have to, or I'll go nuts, lol.

I only wish for a good film adaptation that does the original tale and music justice. I hope Hooper is all about telling this story and--like the original stage production--every last detail is there for the sole purpose of telling that story, as well.

As tempted as I am to say I require the show's original '87 orchs to be used in the film, I won't because I think that is asking too much. I have faith that whoever is hired to adapt the stage production's original John Cameron orchestration does so with the intention of retaining the characterization embedded in his work that plays such a central role in this musical piece of storytelling's effectiveness. They will deeply hurt this piece if they go with the recent attempts at "updating" it. Something like the 10th anniversary concert would be absolutely fantastic, and something like the original '87 work would be a dream come true. Something like the 2006 revival or current anniversary tour would not be Les Miserables to me, and while the actors and all other elements that are going into telling the story might be excellent, those talents paired alongside John's incredibly potent work would be something they can't possibly deprive us from.

John's work is at its core ideal for the film version. People seem to have forgotten that the original production was staged cinematically. It's lamentable how that term is used nowadays to describe a bunch of cheesy projections, CGI, and other cheap video gimmicks that cannot surpass the ingenious use of lighting and innovative stagecraft that was so notable in the original. John obviously orchestrated with this fluidity in mind and it's apparent in the way the score seems to move, ushering new eras in as well as introducing and dismissing characters and moods and even evoking a sense of time and space. I get these incredible images in my head when I try visualizing scenes of how the film might turn out against John's original musical language and it thrills on a scale that can only elevate an already effective score of such an affecting tale.

I firmly believe the '06 revival would still be running on Broadway had they not watered down and stripped the show of its musical identity, character that was so tightly integrated with its cinematic direction and served as each character's internal voice.

Having spewed all of that, I wish the film cast all the best. I'm sure they will treat the piece with love.