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.
*
The curtain rises on LES MISERABLES on December 25th,
and stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha
Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter.
I heard about this recording technique from two of the actors who viited National Public Radio this past weekend. Now I'm more anxious to see the movie!
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