A Reel Opinion: How the New LES MISERABLES Movie is Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

 

This month, a new film based upon Victor Hugo’s novel, LES MISERABLES opens. Over the years, it has been adapted into a globally successful musical play and countless film adaptations.

This new adaption seems to fall into a long line of Oscar-hopefuls over the years with the razzle-dazzle of a Broadway play. However, this LES MISERABLES is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before; every single actor is singing every single word…live.

Normally, the actors involved in a musical-to-film will go into a recording studio months before they arrive on set. In that studio, they would record their vocals…and then months later lip-sync on-set while the cameras are rolling. There is nothing wrong with the technique as it has been used for a hundred years. However, there is always the issue of the actors trying to recreate the emotion and feeling they had months before while recording the vocals; having had to make their acting-choices long before they met their cast-mates and took inspiration from the costumes and sets. This can lead to a disjointed film and obvious lip-syncing.

Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (THE KING’S SPEECH) avoids that problem by having his actors cut their vocals live on set as the cameras roll. Each actor wore a tiny, wireless earpiece on set, which played the basic melody of the song. By recording the vocals while acting on set, the actors were given the freedom of spontaneity, which gives the film a more natural appearance. In short, this is as close as you can get to a live stage production of LES MISERABLES.

Not only is this very innovative, but it is very true to the spirit of a LES MISERABLES stage production, which is really driven by the music in the first place. Hooper is taking it back to its roots and embracing it. This is pioneer-filmmaking; done for the pleasure of fans of stage and film.

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The curtain rises on LES MISERABLES on December 25^th, and stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter.