The trailer for Les Miserables just leaked – I don’t think it was supposed to come out for another few weeks, maybe. So hopefully the video will hold and everybody will be able to see it (if not, I’ll try to find another video). The trailer is… uuuuuhhhhh. Les Miserables isn’t my taste, okay? I like musicals just fine, but I’m way more interested in Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair and Rent. Les Mis is just so depressing, and I think the songs are… emotionally cloying. Anne Hathaway (as Fantine) sings “I Dreamed A Dream” throughout this first trailer, and at first I thought, “Wow, her voice kind of sounds weak” – but if you listen to the whole thing, the emotion does get to you. The film also stars Russell Crowe (as Inspector Javert), Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) and Samantha Barks (Eponine). Here’s the trailer:
It just feels like manipulation. And I always dislike Hollywood’s mindset of “We’re in a recession now, so people will be interested in a film about economic hardships.” No, we won’t. It’s STILL depressing. It really looks like Annie is going for that Oscar, though. We’ll see, Annie. We’ll see. My guess is that she puts herself up for Supporting Actress and the studio puts a lot of money behind her, and we’ll get interview after interview about her weight loss and hair loss. Transformation!!! The Academy loves a physical transformation.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, stills courtesy of Cinema Blend.
See I find Jesus Christ Superstar boring. Love Les Mis.
But “What’s the Buzz” is such a great song!
I was actually going to thank Kaiser (thanks, Kaiser!) for putting that song in my head now…
Different strokes, I guess. 🙂
Me too. In fact every time people talk about it I get horrible flashbacks of Donnie Osmond in commercials for it as a kid.
He did JCS, too? I know he was in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat…
I think so. Maybe Joseph was it? I equate them both with him. idky. I just remember hating those commercials so, so much as a kid.
The coat was pretty atrocious, yes… and what was with interrupting cartoons for that? Seriously!
Jesus Christ Superstar’s more 70s dirty hippie than 80s screaming neon.
Wow. She’s actually even worse than I’d feared. Why do they hire people who can’t sing to play these roles? It’s maddening.
To be fair, she is actually dying as she sings this song. It needs a little weakness. I saw some other clips of her singing (“She’s My Gal” to Meryl Streep comes to mind) and I think she’s good. But then, I can’t help but love Ms. Hathaway.
her voice isnt terrible but it isnt terribly good, either.
Terrible? I think she sounds fantastic.
Anne has a great strong voice. She can really belt…
However, that is not what this song needs. She isn’t JUST singing here, she is acting while she is singing. Far more effective than other versions I have seen where this supposedly dying woman is belting.
I agree; I found it moving.
That’s funny that you mention that difference. I actually had the song in my head from some Broadway chick and she was singing it so technically perfect that that I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to act her way out of a bag on camera.
Oh, come on. She sounds fantastic. You just don’t like her.
You’re comment applies to this whole page. Besides when she hosted the oscars, which was a mess, I don’t get why people has such an issue with Anne Hathaway. People have stupid hang ups. This trailer is amazing, she sounds amazing, can’t wait.
She’s an overrated dork. This movie was made for the actors to get nominated for Oscars. No other reason.
I’m sold.
Me too Anna. My seven year old daughter has a musical theater exam next week as Cosette, singing Castle On A Cloud, and we’ve been rehearsing for ages. She is really into the emotion of the song and of the entire story.
I think the trailer is epic and the Hathaway is hauntingly beautiful, singing her distress.
Can’t wait!
I agree. It looks amazing.
I love Les Mis — I’ve seen it a handful of times on stage, but am really looking forward to seeing how it lends itself to the big screen. Can’t wait! (Have to make a date with my dad, who will sing every song along with me :-).)
Your dad sounds awesome!
He is pretty great. We set a movie date for the opening.
I am too…but I’m seriously nervous about hearing Russel sing. Because he can’t. I’d like to be able to hear Javert singing not just mumbling in a scratchy voice.
For some unknown reason I hold Les Mis very dear but I generally don’t like musicals. Go figure. They’d better get this right. lol.
Eh. She looks horrible with that hair, and while I get that that is the point of it all, I don’t want to pay $10 to look at it in the theater.
Iknow I’m in the minority, but I always thought she was kind of homely anyway. She has a Scary Clown Face.
I also hate it when musicals have people in it who can’t sing very well. I think Emily Rossum could have played this part. She is lovely and has a voice like an angel.
Wow, you’re deep. Were you offended by the ugly skinny people in Schindler’s List as well? I think you should stick to comedies.
Honey, this is no Schindler’s List. It’s a musical. If I’m unimpressed by the singing and the lead actress looks like hell, I’m not spending my money. You are not “deep” because you want to watch Anne Hathaway over-emote and croak out a melodramatic song.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I thought the trailer was great, and captured one of the emotional themes of the story/musical perfectly – which yes, is the idea of loss and lost hopes. Wow. I loved it.
It also gave us a first glimpse into the singing recorded live on film, which shows that it won’t be perfect, but it might just be more moving and connected to the drama on the screen. Anne did fine.
i agree with you
and i think Hugh Jackman wants an Oscar also (look him ,he’s thinner…)as lead
Agree!
Recorded live on set doesn’t mean that much since they will do the take again, and again to get the right sound just like in a studio. They will then make sure that when they are mastering the sound that they make it sound as good as they can. This is not in any way a live performance where you’ve got one shot, there’s no safety net and if you screw up everyone knows. I’m wondering if they thought doing this the hard way would make the Academy give them an Oscar?? 🙂
Do we really need 10000000000 and 1 version of this story? I don’t think so. I don’t like watch ugly and miserable people on screen and I don’t like watch pretty people who pretend to be ugly even more. It looks fake nad pretentious.
I think she did very well. Exceeded my expectations.
I liked it, too.
Her voice sounds great to me — raw with emotion, but strong, with a solid range. She’s got more talent than most of the “professional” singers on the pop charts today.
Yes, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna — I’m looking at you.
Anne’s singing… she always just tries SO hard. It’s eye roll-inducing.
I kind of feel like she tries too hard with everything.
The best definition of Hathaway’s “try-hardness” comes courtesy of Dlisted’s Michael K:
Anne Hathaway is that annoying girl in drama class who takes the “invisible ball” exercise way too seriously, calls the theater teacher by their first name, chants “UN-IQUE NEW YORK” in the hallways and cries when you say that you thought Mary Poppins was dumb and boring. Anne is like Lea Michele’s Glee character on Dexatrim and uppers that give you a manufactured form of peppiness. Annoying as fuck, but at least the ho tried.
Yeah and she uses phrazes like OTM (over the moon). Total geek, and not in a good way.
Eve,
That is Anne Hathaway to a T. Bravo.
Yikes. Now I know why they didn’t give Lea Michele Eponine. I know the actress they picked instead is also a stage actress and singer, but Lea would certainly not have been able to keep herself from going all out and it would have certainly overshadowed Anne’s voice.
Let’s not forget Lea’s RIDICULOUS face when she sings.
Eh. I’ve seen some of her live performances and her facial expressions are more natural to the singing she’s doing. I think she just tries too hard to be cute / emotional on pre-recorded stuff(I’m getting that the signing in the movie would have been live?).
I know they are trying to be more realistic, but if it’s a musical, is it too much to ask that they get people who can really sing? I guess my gripe has more to do with Hollywood giving the same handful of people roles and ignoring possibly more capable people than with Anne as Fantine. I still plan on watching though – I love Les Miserables. I just hope they don’t mess it up too badly…
I love Lea Michele too but she is far too old (and many would say unlikeable) to play Eponine. As much as I loved the original cast members in RENT the movie, they were far too old as well.
I can’t believe all the superficial comments on this thread. Did you people complain that the actors were too unattractive in Schindler’s List? Give me a break!
Lea Michele born august, 1986
Ann Hathaway born november, 1982…
Ann Hathaway singing on this movie… tks to the magic of technology…
Weak indeed.
My first exposure to Evita was Madonna’s version and I liked the songs and thought she sang well…until I found recordings of the songs from the very first Evita (Elaine Paige) and the first American Evita (Patti LuPone) and then I said to myself, “Madonna stinks in that role!”
Same thing with this. Once I started listening to Elaine, Patti and some other Broadway singers, I heard them sing songs from Les Mis, so now I’m spoiled. Anne just doesn’t have the vocal chops. I understand they needed someone young and famous to play it, but I’d really rather see a genuine Broadway or West End star in that role.
Could not agree more tmbg. Hathaway is fine for a campy sing songy kind of show, but she just cannot pull this off. They needed someone with Broadway cred. Amanda Seyfried is a little better singer, but she still is out of her league in something like Les Mis. At least Lea Michelle, as annoying as she is, could sing the songs the way they are meant to be sung. Hatahway in this role is going to cheapen the production. I don’t think this will get her an Oscar. In fact, I think she might be villified.
I feel the exact same way. I’m sure there are actresses out there who can sing and act that were overlooked in favor of star power. Anyone that thinks she’s doing a great job here should listen to Patti LuPone’s version. I’m a fan of Anne Hathaway, I’m just a much bigger fan of the musical and would have liked to see this role go to someone who isn’t butchering one of my favorite songs. Carrying a tune and actually being able to sing are two entirely different things (Katy Perry vs. Adele perhaps).
Wait, wait, wait. You like Rent, but Les Mis is the one that’s emotionally cloying?? Really??
I was thinking the same thing 🙂
LOL. Rent makes me really uncomfortable. I’d be quite happy to NEVER hear a group of high schoolers sing “Seasons of Love” again.
So, I’m a big Les Mis dweeb (I actually read the entire Hugo novel when I was 14….it helped that there weren’t a bunch of boys knockin down the door for my nerd-attention……but anyway). Seen it half a dozen times in its various broadway iterations, my friends and I used to watch the Royal Albert concert version after school EVERY DAY (taped from PBS).
So, Les Mis dweeb.
Anyway — had to suspend my broadway-level expectations of Anne’s singing, first of all. Had to let go of my general dislike of Hugh Jackman’s over-acting. Had to bite my lip at that Eddie Redmayne casting, because his upper lip thing is just uncomfortable to look at.
BUT — that said: sure, the Hathaway phrasing is musically weak, BUT — she gets the emotion of that whole scene.
And I dig Russell Crowe as Javert (always my favorite role). AND, had no idea that Sacha Baron Cohen snagged the Thenardier role….I like that.
SO — all in all, it’s no Royal Albert cast, but — whatever. I actually *like* it.
I also adore Les Mis. For me the most important voices will always be Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. Then Marius and Thenardier. I have always found Fantine’s singing somewhat unpleasant which I think is authentic to the role.
If I have to choose between awesome singing and subpar acting or the reverse – acting wins.
unfortunately all the film, stage, musical versions of hugos book steal so much thunder from the original literary work. it is a beautifully written book with complex characters (none of which break into song). all the observations regarding hair, costumes etc are pertinent to the context/characters life/story and are not ploys to extol grammys from normal looking actresses. i hope this version does the book justice. le sigh.
Susan Boyle voice subs would be better, you’re above it all, near death; no way out.. greatly suffering, burning eyes spirited, angelic in impression and expression is needed.. too stalwart, roughly clipped American singing for poor Anne.. we all know she healthily starved.. um? Cheese it ~.x The lovely, soaring, lofty music is all you have to put you there and in her shoes.. close your eyes.. nope.. just a hint I give her.. maybe..
ugh…more melodrama and overacting. pass.
Agreed.
indeed.
You know, you really lose a LOT when acting becomes so transparent. Knowing Anne is going for the Oscar, predicting her interview talking points, side-eyeing her ‘transformation’ has already exhausted me on the topic and the movie hasn’t even come out yet. I find myself thinking “whatever, Anne”, hoping she doesn’t win (and I have nothing against her! Naked ambition like that annoys me), and not even remotely wanting to watch the movie.
Ahh, the trials of trying to be a successful actress when gossip blogs dissect everything about you. Sucks for Anne.
Totally agree with you.
P.S.: I’m really f*cking lazy today. I keep reading the comments to see if there’s an opinion I can agree with.
Agree with you as well. i don’t know if there is something that actors do to try to fit the bill for an oscar win, or if its just because I know it but I can see when someone is going for an award with their performance. It bugs.
If I didn’t know it was Anne Hathaway, I’d say the voice performing this is not a singer by trade, and it is evident by today’s quality and standards that have been set. However, it’s not the worst.. but it’s not memorable and the person needs A LOT more training. On a scale of 1 -10, I give it a 5,…
But since I DO know it’s Anne Hathaway, like a delusional parent about their mediocre kid, I say, “Oh, go girl.. I love you.. good job! You tried and it’s not half bad! You should try singing other things too!”
For me, this Movie’s all about Rusty and Hugo so I’m looking forward to it.
She is off key and wobbly in parts of the song. I guess the director thinks this is edgy or something to illustrate the plight of the character. I can get the wobbly part because the character is obviously living a very lousy life.
However, if I go to see a musical I want to hear someone who can actually sing. I don’t mind someone doing a different take on it, like singing it softly, in a hesitant kind of way (not everything has to be belted out like they do on Broadway), but at least use the correct pitch and stay on key so the audiences’ ears don’t bleed.
I think it looked okay from the trailer. Sure Anne Hathaway doesn’t have the strongest voice, but I’m going to reserve my full judgement until I actually see the movie.
Musicals give me the Jeebies, the are cloying, ridiculous an who the fuck breaks into a fucking song every 5 minutes. No
This one fits nicely into that “NO” with a hearty serving of Cloyying and depressing
Personally, I like my musicals on stage, not film (with Chicago being the notable exception). But I did not like Les Miserables. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of Phantom of the Opera either. Same bloody song over and over.
I’m really looking forward to this. It made me tear up. As for Hathaway’s voice…they’ve been singing live on set, and that is why her voice is so raw.
Weight loss and hair loss are transformation !!!
But she was paid to do that.
I don’t know. Something about her/her acting rubs me the wrong way.
I love Les Mis, and I actually think Anne is a pretty good actress, but she doesn’t have the right voice for this part. She sounds pretty forced and is kind of articulating some of the lyrics strangely.
She still has her two front teeth so I say, No Oscar! Sorry to be so hard on Annie but if you’re going to suffer for your Art then suffer you must. Also meh on the singing.
Good call Tina. Now I find it more than midly annoying everyone has all their teeth and the teeth are all straight.
Hathaway is oppressively repulsive.
Trailer makes it look like a made for TV movie. Not impressed.
She has a strong voice I think the director probably wanted her to sound weak like Fantine actually is. The character is incredibly emotional when she sings this song. I feel like a more accurate gauge of her singing was with Hugh Jackman at the Oscars.
I know we love to hate on Glee around here but one of the loveliest versions of this song was sung by Idina Menzel and Lea Michele. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp7ARm2Lwdo
And Les Mis isn’t really my type of musical either and the music IS emotionally cloying but damn that song gets to me!
Idina could sing the bloody phone book, and I’d pay to hear it.
I don’t stage musicals translate to film very well.
It was better than I thought it would be. I expect more naturalistic singing in film otherwise it’s overbearing.
She has a nice voice, but I don’t like her figure at all with that look (Oscar?? meh).
But I love Russel and Hugh so much, I’d love if one of THEM would get a oscar because they’re big and deserve it.
Anne not so much. She’s good, but she’s still young.
One of my favorite plays but in general, I don’t care for film translations of stage musicals. I think Anne’s singing is ‘okay’ but the tone/quality seems wrong for the character although the proper emotion was there. I usually like her. I guess I’ll reserve judgement until it comes out.
I saw the stage play so compared to that her voice is ‘meh’~translation=weak. I don’t see why they have to sing if they can’t, get someone who can and to the voiceover. (she has a nice voice but weak she’ll have a hard time with this and we’re going to have to listen to her straining for the whole movie. sigh…) I’ll wait until this shows up in the “on demand” movie section of my trusty cable provider!
She looks like shit AND can’t sing. She’ll probably win an award… :/
Don’t mean to be rude, but the Les Miserables as a musical sounds tacky.
Except its a been a musical for something like 25 years…..
Your point being? That it takes only 25 years for kitsch to become art?
Have you ever even seen Les Mis? I could use a thousand words to describe it but never “tacky”.
Maybe you’re thinking of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical where everyone is on roller skates? Or is that your favourite?;)
Have you read the book?
Have you read the book?
My favourite happens to be “Crime and punch aka The merry wives of Petrograd”. It is set during the Russian revolution.
Yep, totally slapping myself! I can’t wait for this movie. Between this and The Hobbit I’m going to in fan girl heaven in winter.
So many opportunists have jumped on this project, knowing what it would mean for them, and all of the preening has just utterly broken through the fourth wall, for me. I am a huge Les Mis fan, grew up watching my mother obsess over it, and frankly, I would have never been happy with Anne because I am not a fan of hers. But this blatant overacting and campaigning and the … Hollywood’ness of it all is slowly killing it for me, as a film. That scene wasnt terrible, but she could have been coached to do MUCH better phrasing than that. the emotion was good though, it felt about right.
The only song I know from Jesus Christ Superstar is the title song and it’s one of the most ridiculous songs I’ve ever heard! As for Rent… I’ve tried watching the movie twice. Shut it off at the same point twice. So boring.
Les Mis is depressing but that’s the point. Not all musicals have to be uplifting. I saw a really good one a few years ago called Next to Normal–a family dealing with a mother who has bipolar disorder. Depressing as hell, but it was incredibly moving.
I love JCS. I love the revival of it going on!!
Depressing times indeed, that’s why I won’t go watch sad movies like that. I go to the theater to have fun, not to cry or watch little kids starve to death ( there’s already plenty in the news).
I won’t lie, I expected more. She has some raw talent but clearly, she is not a singer. I think she’s a good actress and will do well when it comes to the acting part but what I really don’t understand is WHY didn’t she prepare her voice better …. oh right, because they started shooting like 3 months after she was cast. That’s not enough time to transform your voice.
Hollywood is ridiculous. They throw around money and cast big names for this thing and then they can’t get their sh*t together and calculate their time right so the actors can possibly work on their voices if necessary. Ugh.
But I’ll wait until I see the whole thing to judge.
I’m sure she can actually sing pitch perfect with incredible control, but instead of note by note perfection she wobbles and softens like someone who has truly lost all hope. I found it evocative. I’m pretty sure if they (the director) wanted her to go Susan Boyle on the song, she would have done so, or they would have found someone who could. They obviously wanted something else.
I also don’t understand why people are ragging on her for chopping off her hair and getting skinny for a role. This is her job. There are things you do for a job that may not always be pleasant but you do them anyway. I’m sure she’d love to win an Oscar but maybe she also cares about giving the best performance she can.
I wonder how many people recognize the reason for the hair cut. I already had one friend, who for some reason has neither seen the musical nor read the book, ask me why.
Huh. I truly and deeply dislike musicals. It’s not an uninformed, knee-jerk dislike; my family is very musical and I grew up exposed to all kinds of musicals, opera, Gilbert and Sullivan, Cats, you name it.
And yet, I loved this trailer.
I’m at a loss.
I really don’t like her!
So musicals and theatre is literly my life so I’m really interested in how this will turn out. I have no real opinion on Hathaway as an actress. But I really like this, her voice isn’t all that strong but I like the emotion which I think makes up for the “weakness” of it. But what I’m really looking forward is to see what Helen Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen does to the Thénardiers.
I agree…. I’ll give Hathaway a chance since it is nice to not have overbelting again.
And ooooo they’re the ones playing the Thénardiers? I officially can’t wait!
I teared up at the trailer and cannot wait to see this. This is my favourite musical and find it very heart wrenching.
To all of you stating you refuse to see this movie – THANK GOD! I’m glad you recognize your limitations. There’s nothing worse than the asshole snickering in the middle of an emotional scene.
Hathaway actually has experience as a singer– she performed in Carnegie Hall back before she was out of high school.
I like how there isn’t any over-belting.
Love Les Miserables, adore Anne Hathaway … I can not wait to see the move <3
Don’t like too many musicals and it’s rather obvious that she’s not like a classically trained singer, but…this actually brought tears to my eyes. It’s so raw and real. It doesn’t sound like some studio-manipulated track. It sounds live. Like she’s actually living the moment. It’s gripping and emotional. I will def be checking it out…
Can’t wait to see this. Her voice seems fine to me. I think Hugh actually has a weaker voice.
I think that the official trailer that got cleaned up a bit was great. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Les Mis….stop the hating.
Oh i can’t wait for this movie. I was in London recently and saw the muscial – was not overly fussed, and didn’t have huge expectations of the show, but it TOTALLY blew me away, I laughed and cried and was so absorbed into the story and the emotion (I confess though, musical theatre is my passion, and it doesn’t take much to set off my emotions LOL)
So – I cannot wait for this movie, even the trailer just made me cry haha … I think Anne sounds a little nasally, but agree with other posters, she’s not meant to sound technically perfect, this scene is one of strong emotion and she is acting and singing the part at the same time, I actually thought if you look past the ‘technicals’ the whole thing sounds amazing 🙂
Am looking forward to any more leaked trailers over the next few months haha
I’m sick of people complaining that Hathaway can’t sing. She actually has a big, strong voice and is CHOOSING not to use it on this song. It’s called an ACTING CHOICE, people.