Les Miserables Film Script Released (?)- Page 3

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 3:13pm

^^^ Thank you, StageManager2

Updated On: 10/18/12 at 03:13 PM

[peachesr82]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 3:29pm

The screenplay reads beautifully, what we're seeing as far as production design is stunning, the performances look good. I really hope this is going to be the Oscar contender we all felt it would be at the beginning.

I fear I might only be one of a handful but I'm liking the look of the Thenardiers too. We must be due a new trailer soon, one with more substance than the last.

[willep]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 3:35pm

I just hope Russell Crowe is able to sing the material well.

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 4:32pm

Unless I'm mistaken, looks like "Castle on a Cloud" is shortened... A plus in my book.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 5:03pm

Maybe they thought Hathaway would look too much like she did in Alice in Wonderland if Fantine were blonde.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 5:31pm

Oh my God, this is awesome. Love the references to details from the book and just reading the "Lovely Ladies /I Dreamed a Dream" scene almost brought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how gut-wrenching it will be in the actual film.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 5:44pm

henrikegerman, granted, she looked strange in that movie because she had platinum hair and pale skin but they gave her really dark eyebrows and her normal brown eyes. For Fantine, they could've easily fixed that by, first of all, giving her yellow hair instead (described as "golden" in the book), not darkening her eyebrows, and giving her blue contacts. Problem solved.

Updated On: 10/18/12 at 05:44 PM

[Eponine72]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 6:42pm

Wow...... this makes me so excited for the movie! However, I was crushed that they omitted part of a little fall of rain..... I love that part.
And I have mixed feelings about the new verse for Eponine instead of the "Hey watcha do with all them books." Part. I thought that the new bit was rather poorly written - Eponine wouldn't really say that. In the show, "I know a lot of things I do," because it is so touching, and it ties in to Eponines errand. It shows how she is trying to prove herself to him, but he's like, no, you don't know this stuff. And then later; he asks her to find Cosette; and she's like, well, I guess this is all I know, all I'll ever be to him.

As for the song re-arrangement.... they did not think about it enough. IDAD, at first glance, seems to work. But it doesn't. IDAD is literally sung (in the stage show) at Fantines breaking point - she breaks, the spirals down from there. It isn't meant to be sung at her lowest point, because by that point she isn't innocent enough. IDAD is a very innocent song. I hate how they moved OMO to before One Day More. OMO is supposed to be Eponine, en route to the barricades, saying yeah, I know I'm imagining this, I know I'm wrong - but I'm going back to the barricades anyway. Even though I know he doesn't love me, I want to be with him. As for DYHTPS, they should NEVER have moved it. That song is supposed to be the students, rallying up, preparing to fight for their cause; all fired up. It's "Lets fight for freedom!" NOT "Ok, we're at the barricades about to fight!" The song is more idealistic then that.

IMO Updated On: 10/18/12 at 06:42 PM

[JP2]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 7:20pm

But Eponine72, they didn't just change the order to those songs, they changed the context as well. And that's what makes it work.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 7:50pm

I haven't read the script and don't plan to, so I'll take you at your word that they cut part of ALFOR. I'm severely disappointed, as well. They cut that verse for the concert and student versions, so I had a feeling they might cut it for the movie to save time. Frankly, I hate when that part is cut. It's the only moment in which Eponine admits her feelings for Marius, albeit indirectly. It's touching that she uses her last moments to confess her feelings to Marius. It gives some closure to her story. Also, the song is just incredibly beautiful and poetic. I'm sad that they decided to cut that part.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 8:28pm

EPONINE72: They actually beefed up Eponine's Part in the movie.In the musical she is a little bit 2 dimmensional "I love marius,but he doesn't love me,oh well,im going to go sing in the rain" lol but Now she actually takes a bullet for Him.She is seen more as a hero in the movie,which I think is a good thing.

I disagree with you on IDAD.It flows so much beter like this.I think Movie Audiences will feel more for Fantine when she sings IDAD after they know what she has done:cut her hair,pulled teeth,become a prostitute.It makes a point that her Innocence is completely gone.But i respect your opinion.


"As for DYHTPS, they should NEVER have moved it. That song is supposed to be the students, rallying up, preparing to fight for their cause; all fired up"

They do have a song for that.Its called:RED and black.DYHTPS and red and black are virtually the same song lol.I think it works better here because Now during DYHTPS they are actually atacking the funeral.It should be a great movie sequence.

We need to remember that this is a MOVIE people.If you just put The musical on screen it wouldn't be that great.Songs need to be deleted and things need to be moved around for the movie to have a nice flow.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 8:46pm

Yeah, but too bad they didn't keep Fantine blonde. I mean, if they were gonna keep Enjolras blonde (though he's not often portrayed as such in productions) and include the "teeth scene" (which is not in the musical), they should've retained her blonde tresses. Hugo made her blonde for a reason. He wrote: "She had gold and pearls for her dowry; but the gold was on her head, and the pearls in her mouth." Fantine's blonde hair also represented purity and innocence. When she cuts her hair and sells her teeth, she loses that innocence and her personal wealth.

Hugo did make a big deal about Fantine being a blonde. But the musical didn't. The Hair Crone who wanted to buy her hair for 10 francs didn't mention anything about it being blonde, just that she has very pretty locks.

Besides, Anne Hathaway would look terrible as a blonde. She just doesn't have the complexion or the features for it. Plus, she ends up chopping off her hair, and they would have to keep dyeing her roots and all that. It would be pretty damaging. Wigs and blue contacts are not realistic looking.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/18/12 at 11:21pm

Did Hugo also give Fantine blue eyes?

[willep]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 12:20am

Yeah, as someone who has never really cared for Lovely Ladies and I Dreamed a Dream...that sequence was one of the standouts in the screenplay. I am really excited to see that on screen.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 12:51am

IDAD is literally sung (in the stage show) at Fantines breaking point - she breaks, the spirals down from there. It isn't meant to be sung at her lowest point, because by that point she isn't innocent enough. IDAD is a very innocent song.

I think it makes better sense in the rearrangement in the screenplay for one reason -- the last four lines:

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed

In the musical, she simply got sacked from the factory, which is horrible losing your job, but her life hasn't gone to hell yet so it never rang true on stage. However, after "Lovely Ladies" she has sold her locket, hair, and (in the screenplay borrowed from the book) her teeth, the latter two which were her true beauty and personal wealth, and then she hits an all-time low when she resorts to selling herself. At this point, she not only has lost her job, but her prized possessions, her health, and most of all her self-respect. Her life has now become a hell on earth and she has more or less given up on life, which that last line alludes to.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 10:11am

As someone who actually works in film production, please keep in mind that this is only the shooting script and is not the script to the final cut of the film. During production, pages do get scratched and never filmed (though there WERE in the shooting script) and numerous revisions do occur on set during filming. Then of course changes, trims and cuts are made during editing and additional trims and cuts occur during audience test screenings done prior to the official release of the film so don't take this script as the bible of what will be seen on screen eventually.

[chris d]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 10:43am

re: switching LL & IDAD: I think on stage they deliberately put "Dream" first to allow us to "digest" all the exposition in the Prologue and "End of the Day." to have put "Lovely Ladies" after "Day" would have been too much, and would have cheapened Fantine's plot by rushing through most of her story in, like, 20 minutes. HOWEVER, I think it will work fine in the movie. (this is gonna be one long-ass movie; I won't be surprised if, like BrodyFosse says, they continue to make cuts, including to the songs).

[p.s.]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 11:27am

this is gonna be one long-ass movie

Fandango lists the running time as 1 hr 48 min.


p.s. I hope I won't feel cheated out of an hour of entertainment (or 40 minutes, net of intermission).

[wickedfan]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 11:36am

Fandango made a mistake. They posted the running time before editing was even completed. That running time listed is actually for another film version of Les Mis (1952).

[p.s.]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 11:41am

I'm happy to hear that!

p.s. If they had listed the running time of the 1925 silent (French) film, they would have posted 5 hours 59 minutes.

[michellek45]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 11:59am

Does anyone think they'll do an intermission during this? I'd guess the run time would be somewhere very close to 3 hours. There isn't one written in the script, and I know it's not the custom anymore, but since it's sufficiently long enough, maybe?

[Wildcard]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 12:01pm

Today's general movie-going audience would likely leave during an intermission. They wouldn't know what to make of it.

[chris d]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 12:02pm

based only on reading the script, it seems like they added more than they took away from the musical. I'm guessing it'll clock in at about 2:45. I'm sure the studio will nudge for trimming. I guess they can't touch the songs that, while least necessary to the narrative, are the show's signature hits (Master of the House, On My Own, One Day More, & Bring Him Home, which still makes no sense to me in the context of Valjean's and Marius' "relationship").

[Plum]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 8:26pm

An intermission would be wildly unlikely. The only place I've seen one in my lifetime is Israel, and even there the movie theaters don't really do it anymore.

[jo]

Posted: 10/19/12 at 10:28pm

It looks like they have taken down the link.