UK: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe attend world premiere of Les Miserables

Record ID: 221027

  • Title: UK: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe attend world premiere of Les Miserables
  • Date: 6th December 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM, (DECEMBER 05, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS RUSSELL CROWE SPEAKING TO PRESS CROWE CHATTING ON THE RED CARPET VARIOUS ACTRESS HELENA BONHAM CARTER SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS VARIOUS ANNE HATHAWAY SPEAKING TO PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANNE HATHAWAY, SAYING: "I think I am still getting used to it, but it was surreal it happened more quickly than I t
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2012 12:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA7A33Y7ZLKUR6QVRSFY4G9LLW6
  • Story Text: All star cast of Les Miserables reveal what singing live on set was like and comment on Kate Middleton's pregnancy in London.

    The A-list cast of the new Les Miserables film hit the red carpet in London on Wednesday (December 05) for the world premiere.
    Based on the long-running stage musical and classic novel by Victor Hugo the film's stars include Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman.
    Jackman has an impressive number of musical theatre hits under his belt as well as a successful film career.
    Ahead of the screening he joked about who was in charge on set: "I was the boss they all listened to me, I told them what to do, no - I suppose in a way Jean Valjean is very much the leader, but I felt it was very ensemble."
    Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France the epic story follows the plight of Valjean, an ex-convict on the run after breaking his parole.
    Academy Award winner Tom Hooper directed the project and hopes fans will be pleased: "You can tell from the huge turn out here the status of Les Mis, it has 60 million fans around the world, I wanted to do it justice I hope people will feel that I did."
    Hooper won an Oscar last year when his film 'The Kings Speech' dominated the awards season. Looking ahead to 2013 though he wasn't willing to talk about the possibility of his Les Mis winning prizes: "All I have thought about is getting to this day I have only just finished the film literally days ago so I am so thrilled to finally be able to celebrate with the cast."
    He was joined on the red carpet by many of his cast, Russell Crowe who plays police inspector Javert was there as was Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thenardier).
    Meanwhile Anne Hathaway dazzled in front of photographers in a Givenchy dress. She plays Fantine, an out of work mother who turns to prostitution, a role she had to shave her hair off for half way through playing: "I think I am still getting used to it, but it was surreal it happened more quickly than I thought it was going to, I kept thinking it has taken 30 years to grow this or something like that and now it is all gone, it was scary leading up to it and then as soon it was done it was fine."
    Hathaway performs one of the drama's many big showstoppers - 'I Dreamed A Dream', and like the rest of the cast she sang live on set.
    It's rare for a whole musical film to be recorded live, however legendary theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh said that was always their plan, despite it being much tricker to do than when in a theatre: "It is technically much more difficult with a film but our brilliant technicians found a way of doing it and it seems the only way now I mean I do think from that point of view what ever happens to the film of Les Miserables it is going to change the way musicals are done in the future in movies."
    Actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays student Marius likened his singing training to being an athlete: "It was weird cos we were singing live you did 25 takes of a song you had to sing it 25 times and it meant that you had to have quite a lot of vocal stamina, it was like training to be an athlete really, it was interesting."
    For Amanda Seyfried who plays Redmayne's love interest Cosette she found herself practising her singing warm-up routine even when she wasn't at work: "I got used to doing vocal exercises and like lip exercises, lip drills and tongue exercises and I would do it accidentally like shopping and in random places and forgot that I was doing it and so that was weird."
    The cast also includes Sacha Baron-Cohen, who joked on the red carpet about the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy.
    Les Miserables is due to open in the US on 25 December 2012 and in the UK on 11 January 2013.
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