Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| Stephany |
Les Mis, the movie - confirmed by SchoenbergThis weekend, Claude-Michel Sch�nberg confirmed to Europe 1 (one of France's biggest radio channels) that he's in talks with Paula Wagner (producer of Mission Impossible 1 & 2 and War of the Worlds) to do a movie based on the musical "Les Mis". You can listen to the interview here: http://www.europe1.fr/Radio/Emissions/Europe-1-Decouvertes-Michel-DRUCKER/. It's in French, though.He also said that "Les Miserables" is coming back to Paris in 2010 to celebrate the 30th Aniversary of the show. "Miss Saigon", "Martin Guerre" and "Marguerite" are also coming to Paris after "Les Mis". |
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| Quique |
WoW. This is great news. But I'm very nervous about a film version of Les Mis! I don't think it would translate well to the screen. But we'll see. | ||||||
| Factory-Girl |
Ohh... wow. Wooooow.
There's going to be all sorts of fun to speculate about now! Casting, what might be cut... if there's going to be a book, or if it'll stay all-sung? Hmm... |
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| SmallTownIngenue |
Oh wow, that's exciting! As long as they cast the right people and get the right person to direct it, I think it could be a very good adaptation. | ||||||
| mastachen |
Re: Les Mis, the movie - confirmed by Schoenberg
So... Tom Cruise as Valjean? |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Wake me up when we haven't heard news that sounds just like every single "confirmation" of the movie since 1988. | ||||||
| Stephany |
According to Sch�nberg, he spent the full week to talk about it with Paula Wagner. If you listen closely to the radio interview, he says that the movie talks are now "very seriously advanced". Fingers crossed! | ||||||
| Disney-Bway27 |
 I picked a wonderful time to get hooked on Les Mis!
I see some of the more operatic (as in singing something that could easily be spoken) moments in the show being transferred to regular speaking (kinda like they did with Rent). For example, "What is this fighting all about? Will someone tear these two apart? This is a factory, not a circus!" This is exciting though!
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| bigR |
Re: Les Mis, the movie - confirmed by Schoenberg
Oh, no, please, noooooooooooo....
Oh, Hell, Yes!!!! |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Re: Les Mis, the movie - confirmed by SchoenbergI'm not going to comment on the movie until there's more confirmation that it actually exists, but...
This makes me SO HAPPY because I might be studying in Paris in 2010 and... yeah. SO HAPPY. |
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| ilovebway |
I'm very, very excited to hear this. I just hope it all follows through. | ||||||
| eponine5 |
I'm going to be cynical about the realities of this actually happening until there's more development. I know that a Les Mis film has actually got to the stage of writing the screenplay twice already, before being dropped.
If it does go ahead though, I'll be so worried about how it will work! |
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| EponineMNFF |
Killmenow.
If this happened, and Les Mis became even more of a teenybopper "OMG NO I TOTALLYYY LUV LES MIS MORE THAN UUUU" problem of mine, I might just give up on talking to people. |
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| bigR |
This seems serious 
The journalist didn't say anything about it, they were mainly talking about the past of the show, and about france and musical theatre, and then, at the very end, when they were about to say goodbye, Sch�nberg interrumpted him to say that he'd just been working with the producer for eight days, and the project is serious and it is already avanced. I'm afraid they might be willing to shoot the movie for the 25th aniversary... It was predictable that they would do something for 2010... And I was hoping it would be something like the TAC, only not a concert but the real thing, staged and acted in a theatre, and with all the cuts restored (CSR + well scene) And now it seems that we are going to get a silly movie... Well, at least the show is coming back to Paris. Anyway, I don't want my Mis to be turned into a movie!
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| EponineBarker |
Wow...ya know, I never even thought of the teenybopper aspect if they made a film...but come to think of it, that's what happened with The Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd...there were the fans of the stage musical, and then there were...*looks horrified* the fangirls. Maybe a movie right now isn't the best idea...  I'd love to see it happen, just not right now.
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| bigR |
Oh, God! This is probably going to be the end of me.
I've been googling that Paula Wagner gal, and apparently her production company is called Cruise/Wagner Productions. Cruise, as in Tom Cruise, people. Please, don't tell me he can sing. |
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| Quique |
I wonder if the 2010 Paris revival is gonna be a whole new production? I'm glad it'll be some time before it opens, as that'll give me time to save to go see it there!!! | ||||||
| bigR |
They were talking about a tour, and the tour coming back to france. It didn't sound as if they were planning any changes. | ||||||
| CabaretGirl |
I'm not sure I'm thrilled about the movie, but I'm very glad to hear they'll finally bring Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre to France... does this mean we'll finally hear the French version of these shows? (I don't know about Martin Guerre, but Miss Saigon was originally written in French, but was never put on). | ||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
Well, there goes any hope of getting a nice semi-indie movie version that expends more effort on getting appropriate casting than on fishing for big-name stars... urgh. Let the Scientology jokes commence. |
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| EponineBarker |
AHHH!!! *hides under desk in terror at the thought of Tom Cruise singing Les Mis* If he does get into the movie musical adaptation of Les Mis, I will personally put out a hit on everyone who gave that idea the green light! |
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| mastachen |
I've already made the Tom Cruise comment....... | ||||||
| bigR |
Think positive.
If Tom Cruise is involved in this, at least we won't have Nicole Kidman as Fantine! (they still don't talk to each other, do they?) |
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| mastachen |
Hopefully his current wife doesn't get a role then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpV8avjVtxo |
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| EponineBarker |
If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Nicole Kidman being in the movie over Tom Cruise going within ten feet of it anyday.
NO. Please no. |
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| Quique |
I just can't picture it working as a film. I prefer they just film the stage version and air it on PBS. But, we'll see. I hope the director proves me wrong.
As for casting...I'm not even going to begin to speculate. I'll just pretend I didn't read the Tom Cruise comments, lol.
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| bigR |
Oh, no. This is going to happen isn't it? After Pierce Brosnan in mamma mia, we know that the hability to sing is not a requierement anymore in musical movies... |
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| lesmisloony |
Oh yay, Now Les Mis can be brought to the masses just like Johnny Depp brought everyone Sondheim.
/pain Excuse me while I go roll my eyes and hope this is yet another rumour. |
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| curlyhairedsoprano91 |
What she said. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Can't you guys save your semi-witty energy for when more of this actually comes to fruition? (I can not-so-fondly recall very similar comments on the old lesmis.com in 1997. I know I'm not the only one.)
Here, for future discussion, please pick a topic that is not the following: * OH MY GOD, they're gonna pick ((washed up former megastar)) as ((role)) and it's all over! * OH MY GOD, it's gonna all be ruined! * OH MY GOD, they're gonna cut my favorite songs! * OH MY GOD, I'm like, totally not gonna see this. Movie musicals suck. * OH MY GOD, it's gonna suck as much as ((pick any movie musical from the past 5 years)) * OH MY GOD, I won't go if ((insert favorite stage actor)) isn't in it! |
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| bigR |
It's not a rumour. I've just heard Schonberg himself anouncing (without anyone asking him) that the project is serious and is already well advanced. Is there a chance that he and Boublil will still quarrell with the producer and the movie won't be made? Well, yes, there is, and I hope they do quarrell, and the movie won't be made, but from what I've heard this is NOT yet another rumour.
So, please, TVAW, save your semi-witty snark replies for after your've learned french and have listened to Schonberg talking about the movie. Until then, I'll do as you say and I'll pick a topic that is not any of the one you've listed. * OH MY GOD, I don't want this movie to be shoot even if I like movie musicals, and the actors are perfect, the director is brilliant and all the songs are in there. I just don't want a movie. |
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| Artemis Entreri |
If they use only stage actors who proved they are good, and they send Tom Cruise for a shave to Mr. Depp, it could turn out good.  At least Johnny could shave well... sing, not so well. Long live George Hearn.
But I have a fear that after a movie, we'll have thousands of Eppiboppers and Enjy-fangirls. |
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| bigR |
Yep. That's my fear aswell (which is kind of hypocrital because I am a shameless Enjy-fangirl myself  ).
So, after giving it some though I really want �ponine played by Tom Cruise's wife (I don't mind so much the eppy-boppers) and Enjolras by some sturdy looking uber-masculine guy. Yes: I want the movie to be bad. Seriously. |
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| eponine5 |
Just because it's definitely in discussion doesn't mean it will happen. As I said, this isn't the first time they've worked on a movie. Even if a big name is connected to it, it still might come to nothing - a few years ago "no less than Steven Spielberg" was working on a film of Miss Saigon, but that obviously didn't happen either. | ||||||
| bigR |
Yes, of course, and I hope you're right and it never gets done (please, please, please).
But Schonberg didn't say that they were just discussing it, he said the project is "tr�s serieusement avanc�". That's what I found scary. Two more interesting things about the interview: -he talks about Les Mis coming to Paris as a part of a "grande tourn�e mondiale". I'd heard rumours about the show coming to Madrid soon, aswell, so, it maybe is part of the same tourn�e. -Some of you probably already knew it but it was new to me. Apparently half the people who sing in the OFC were just hired for the recording, but they didn't play the characters in the stage version. That was mainly the case of the big stars like Adamo, or Michel Sardou (which means that the best DYHTPS ever, was never actually sang on stage. weird) |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
The whole thing has for the past ~20 years been an insane and stupid combination of a huge cocktease, stringing along of fangirls/fanboys, legitimate development hell, and crying wolf. I won't believe anything until Sch�nberg writes me a letter himself, BigR. | ||||||
| bigR |
I really really hope that you are right, TVAW. | ||||||
| Stephany |
That's why the French Concept album of "Les Miserables" features some "big names" like Michel Sardou, Rose Laurens (Fantine) or Maurice Barrier (Jean Valjean). The 1980 stage production of "Les Miserables" in Paris at the Palais des Sports starred J�r�me Pradon (the West End's Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings) as Marius, Louise Pitre as Fantine and Robert Marien as Jean Valjean. If they do make a movie, I hope they cast mostly French actors. If they can sing in English, obviously. 
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Check this out. It's of the actual Palais des Sports cast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ppd66UURg |
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| bigR |
You're wrong here St�phanie. J�r�me Pradon, Louise Pitre and Robert Marien starred in the 1991 version of the show, at the Paris Mogador. They were not involved with the original 1980 production at the Palais des Sports. Maurice Barrier and Rose Laurens did play Valjean and Fantine in 1980. Only a few of famous people, like Adamo and Sardou (and I believe that Schonberg himself) who sang in the recording, didn't play in the show afterwards.
I certainly hope they do not. J�r�me Pradon excepted, I've never seen any french actor who can sing with a neutral english accent. It's going to be bad enough as it is, so please, let's stick to australians, british and americans who can sing in as neutral an accent as possible. |
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| bigR |
TVAW: I officially declare that I love you. What a find! A lot of this Combeferre singing isn't even in the OFC!!! And the clothes from the last scene! Why the hell didn't they copy that in London? |
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| CabaretGirl |
COMBEFERRE Eh l'ami, t'en fais une t�te C'est quand m�me pas ta Juliette Qui t'a mis le coeur au tr�molo Avec Shakespeare, on craint le pire Joue-nous du Moli�re, on pr�f�re Don Juan plut�t que Rom�o MARIUS Ni l'un ni l'autre, celle que j'aime Ne sait m�me pas que je l'aime J'ai perdu tout espoir d�j� J'aimerais croire qu'elle sera mienne � la fin de la derni�re sc�ne Mais la vie n'est pas un op�ra Rouge - le peuple est en col�re Noir - mon coeur est en mis�re Rouge - mon sang tourne � l'envers Noir - mon amour d�sespoir COMBEFERRE Allez Marius, tu exag�res L'amour fait souvent des mani�res Mais il ne t'abandonnera pas Il sait bien que tu es sinc�re Il exaucera ta pri�re Et demain, tu la retrouveras MARIUS Rouge - mon sang tourne � l'envers Noir - mon coeur est en mis�re Rouge - le peuple est en col�re Noir - l'esp�rance de la Terre --- STUDENTS C'�tait un fil du peuple, un tr�s grand g�n�ral L'empereur admirait sa bravoure au combat Il nous faut m�riter de servir son id�al Son coeur allait au peuple et il le proclama ENJOLRAS Il n'est pas mort Lamarque ressuscit� � chaque homme tomb� Est le drapeau vivant de ceux qui n'en ont pas La libert� en deuil affronte l'autorit� Dans les rues de Paris O� nous r�gnons d�j� STUDENTS Des hommes, des femmes au Faubourg St-Antoine On fait des armes d'un rabot, d'un compas � la barri�re de Montreuil, l'armurier est avec nous Il distribue des cartouches et des fusils � deux coups --- ENJOLRAS D�j� _____ trop d'amis qui ne la verront point Et qui sont parmi nous ceux qui verront celle de demain matin? Tous nos camarades morts r�clament vengeance, la voix dans le silence Jaillit par nos fusils, cris de poudre dans leur bouche de foudre --- GAVROCHE Alerte! Un peloton de sappeurs va d�molir la barricade! Et les soldats derri�re se groupent en embuscade! ENJOLRAS Tous dehors, amis fid�les Et � toute � l'heure, au ciel Feel free to fill in the blanks!  I'm French, but there are some parts I don't get.
EDIT: I added bigR's corrections. |
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| bigR |
Filling in the blanks!
STUDENTS Des hommes, des femmes au Faubourg St-Antoine On fait des armes d'un rabot, d'un compas ENJOLRAS D�j� (--) trop d'amis qui ne la verront pas Et qui sont parmi nous ceux qui verront celle de demain matin? GAVROCHE Alerte! Un peloton de sappeurs va d�molir la barricade! They still are a couple of words missing just before "trop d'amis", but I have trouble understanding them. It sounds something like "non plus ont soin" but it doesn't make sense. Another frenchie around here with a better ear than us? |
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| Quique |
That sounds like a soundboard.
I want. |
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| Quique |
I find this odd. Why wouldn't you want a film version even if it'd have all those things you listed? |
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| bigR |
I know it may seem odd. But for some reason, I've always liked my fandoms to be small. I never liked the idea of any movie inspired in any of them. Even when it was a good movie. | ||||||
| The Very Angry Woman |
Small?! Then why are you a Les Miz fan, of all things? Why not just go become a follower of 13 or Bright Lights Big City or Superbia? |
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| What you own |
You took the words right out of my mouth! I agree 100% with what you just said. 
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| bigR |
Les Mis might be very famous in the US, but in continental Europe the fandom is VERY small. If you ask 1.000 random people in the street if they know the song "On my Own" and you find a couple of them who can hum it, I would be very surprised. Another example: I've seen pics of people who dress up as �ponine or Enjolras in Halloween in the US. But nobody dresses like any of the characters of Les Mis for the carnival here. Because no one would recognize them Of course, in France everybody knows who Valjean, Cosette and Gavroche are, but as characters of a novel, and we are talking about the musical here, not the book. Dress up as musical Enjolras and probably less than 1 people out of 1.000 will recognize you. Many educated adults and people who've travelled to london or new york have heard about the show, of course, and they will probably recognize the logo. But not much more. And if you go to a high school you won't probably find anyone who knows a single song from the show. |
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| sopranodespair |
I just saw this thread today. I'm very nervous for the film version. I hope they don't ruin it. | ||||||
| CabaretGirl |
And what if the whole cast was French? They would all have the same accent, and it would fit since all the characters are French... Of course it wouldn't have to be too strong or a complete caricature (like Lumi�re in BatB), but just something slight (I love it when I hear J�r�me Pradon pronounce the names in correct French in Martin Guerre). I think it could work. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Um, I don't think bigR meant "small relative to other musical-theatre fandoms." Les Mis, especially with the slump in activity lately, is teeny-tiny compared to Twilight or Avatar or Doctor Who or anything with hordes of devoted fangirls. |
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| kozafluitmusique |
This is so exciting! | ||||||
| Stephany |
What you say is true, bigR. I'm a musical theatre newbie from France (hence my error about the cast earlier in this thread and I apologize for it!) so I heard about the musical "Les Miserables" only because I was interested everything Broadway and West End. I obviously knew the story and the characters very well before that - we study the novel at school and it's also a big part of our culture - but I didn't know how big it was in other countries like the US. If there is a movie, it will probably be welcomed with high skepticism in France. We have already many different versions (TV, movie, etc.) and a singing version might not appeal to a French audience. Still, I hope the musical gets the attention it deserves in my country because it really is a masterpiece. I'm glad to hear that "Les Mis" comes back in 2010 but it's still a long way to go! |
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| lesmisloony |
Word. I'm only semi-active in my other "fandoms" because I just adore how small this one is. I see the same people all over the place; here, ff.net, Abaisse, lj... It's quite tiny. I love it. |
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| jackrussell |
I can't see Les Mis working as a film - the libretto is just not cinema-friendly, in my opinion. So they would probably want to make major changes including spoken dialogue. The thinking will be that the fans will go to see it anyway but to justify a big budget they need to reach beyond the musical theatre crowd and appeal to the average man in the street / potato farmer in Idaho as well.
Also, just because the creators are talking it up doesn't necessarily mean it will happen, sometimes they just talk it up to get a bit of support behind it to make financing it more likely. I'd rather they did Miss Saigon instead, I think that would translate to film much much better. |
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| lesmisloony |
I'd rather they film the musical onstage OR just make another adaptation of the Book for me to collect. Because oh my gosh I don't want the horrible musical characterisations of, ahem, certain characters to be any more popular than they already are. | ||||||
| Disney-Bway27 |
Avatar has fangirls!? Since when!?
I mean, I knew anime in general had screaming fangirls who take time out of their days to learn Japanese, but I didn't know Avatar had any. On an even more unrelated note, apparently the character Clopin from The Hunchback of Notre Dame has an insane fanbase of screaming YouTubing girls. It's quite amusing. |
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| Fantine |
I'm actually quite exited for this.
IF, and that is a big IF, it will actually happen. Which I doubt. |
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| What you own |
Very good ponit Lesmisloony. I can just see the Fangirls now
"Lyke OmG i'm SO0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 In LoVe <3 wit MoNtPaRnesse!! we r Lyke SO0O0O0O0O0Oo0o0o0o ment to b 4eva!" And even more of "Omg i can so relate to Eponine cuz like I lyke dis guy n he dont lyke me bac. i cryd 4 lyke hours ova him. but lyke Eponine has monty so lyke she soo0o0o0o0o lucky." But I do agree with Disney-Bway27 I think it will be like what they did with RENT. (Its nice isn't it to have proper grammer. Refreshing from I just wrote.) I think some of the songs will be changed into dialoge. I wonder how they are going to recreate France. |
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| jackrussell |
sounds about right 
OT but why do these people use alternating capital and lower case letters? |
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| What you own |
I have no clue. I think part of its becuase they always forget to see when there caps lock is on, and if it is they don't bother to change it. But I think part of it is for effect. Like SOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
I make a pretty good fangirl. (Or in fangirl talk Lol)
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| Kragey |
God, I can't stand that crap anymore. Especially since musical Eponine barely has half of the emotional layers she has in the original novel, and everytime somebody tells me they relate to some vapid female character from some vapid fandom, like Bella from Twilight, I gotta say, "What's there to relate to?" I dunno, though; I was skeptical about Sweeney Todd, and while a few things that were removed really annoy the crap out of me, I still liked the ST film. |
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| Vice |
I think I could work...
I'd personally LOVE to see a movie of it. I've learned a while ago to never assume with movie musicals. (I was right on how crappy Momma Mia was, but was VERY wrong about Sweeney. I liked it, shoot me.) Another thing is, whilst we might get stupidmovie!fangirls, there might be another thing to... distract them? (Example: It was hilarious how many Sweeney Todd movie!bleeders left the fandom when The Dark Knight came out. Yeah, the fanbase grew, but most moved on. Not many of the (normal) people I know get obsessed with something to the point of not riding out the "waves of popular culture", myself included.) |
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| Quique |
Who cares about added fangirls?! We have hordes of them already--novel fangirls, Monty fangirls, Eppie fangirls, Enjolras fangirls, Grantaire fangirls, Fantine fangirls, Cosette fangirls, orchestration fanboys, etc...etc.  What an odd reason to not want a film version made.
And yes, we can all get pretty annoying.
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| The Very Angry Woman |
I thought Mamma Mia was wonderfully entertaining and thoroughly stupid, and I can't remember a time when a movie made me that happy for such a long period of time. You're right -- the ones who have a reason to stay in a fandom will. The ones who won't will be annoying for a while, then peter out. Notice how a few years later, it's not that easy to find women who would collect Gerard Butler's nosehairs -- but in 2004 you could fit them all in the Staples Center. |
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| Melpomene |
I predict that the number of Epo9 boppers will increase exponentially.
However, as long as the movie is done well, I'm all for it! |
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| music is my life!!! |
there's nothing on imdb about this..... | ||||||
| Monsieur D'Arque |
It's slated, on IMDB, to be out in 2010, theoretically. However, it's in the development phase, which means you need a premium account to read up on it so far. | ||||||
| music is my life!!! |
^ oh, that sucks..... I'll wait
I wonder if they'll do open auditions in like March or something.... heheheheeeeee..... I'll be 16..... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!.!!!!>...... *coughcough*
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| What you own |
Yeah, But I think there might be some of what happened to POTO and RENT. With the ones whos saw the muiscal not really respecting the movie fans. And if someone dares to metnion the fact that they have ONLY seen the movie. Then there is huge amount of respect that you just lost. http://www.musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52998 Thats a pretty good example. Of course I think alot of it is Newbies. I'm pretty embrassed at my posts on the RENT bored becuase they just reeked of newbieness. (And they still do. But at least I TRY to use proper grammer now. Even if it doesn't alwyas work.) Another good example is http://www.musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=55099 http://www.compulsivebowlers.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3727 |
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| lesmisloony |
If someone says they've only seen the musical without reading the Book, I usually react with, "Eh, that's okay, it's a big Book, you'll get around to it!" I've never seen anyone say they had no intention of reading the Book. If they did, I'd probably dislike them right away, fair or not.
With the movie, it'd be similar to that for me, I think, with more of a tendency to roll my eyes at movie fangirls. Really? My biggest frustation will/would be Eponine becoming even more of a teen idol. Other than that I don't really care. |
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| dolbinau |
I find people's issues with having "movie" fans strange and there was a good analogy I liked I read on the IMDB forums, that, if I have liked say "In the heights" or "RENT" on Off Broadway does that make me a bigger/better fan than those who have only seen the Broadway productions? (Of course it being accessible and more commercial).
Similarly, some people I'm sure are fans of Les Mis (say through the Broadway revival) but no little of its prior history or its french concept origins etc... does that make them less fans? I just think, that if people have only seen the movie and like it - what is the problem? I know there is the whole stigma of ignorance by the fans which Is a little annoying. But still. I just find it strange that some people get so defensive in discussion of movie adaptations of musicals, especially with such commercial and popular musicals as RENT, Wicked and Les Mis. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
It's not that people who saw the movie first are lesser fans, it's that movies attract people who have very little desire to explore anything besides the movie. Or who act unforgivably dismissive towards the less-glamorous book/musical/game/whatever that the original fans spent so much energy obsessing over.
And yeah, people who have explored more aspects of their fandom get more street cred than those who don't, regardless of whether they started from the book or the musical or this hypothetical movie or the freaking 2000 miniseries. |
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| eponine5 |
If there is a movie, what I'm worried about more than the movie fans who love the movie so much that they dismiss the musical are the people who might not like the movie (especially if it isn't any good) and then dismiss/judge the stage show because of that. | ||||||
| What you own |
I completley agree with Orestes and Dolbinau. I was just ponitng out what has happened in other boards where there where movies made.
And I'm Kind of afraid that people are going to hate me when I say this but...... I've never seen Les Mies. sadly. I'm have to wait till it comes back to broadway. But I am currently reading the book.
Please don't hate me. *Goes of to the cornor to cower in fear.* |
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| lesmisloony |
Book > musical Plus, it's not practical to expect everyone who likes the show to find a way to see it. Right now you'd have to fly out to London if you wanted to see the original production. The Book, however, even though it is still long, is enough of a classic that people should read it anyway. AND it's (obviously) much more obtainable. |
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| Quique |
And don't feel bad if you fail to get through the book. Even its most rabid fans will admit that it is quite a difficult read at first, so it's perfectly understandable for a newbie to get overwhelmed buy it. It took me quite a few attempts to get through the whole thing myself.
I forgot where it was, but Orestes once posted a sort of guide to help those wanting to read the novel for the first time; which parts are important and which parts could be skipped if one wants to just focus on the main story. But yeah, I strongly encourage you to take it all in. It really is a beautiful piece of literature that every fan would benefit being familiar with. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Why does this actually "worry" you? Does it have any influence on your own self-worth or well-being? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
It's here, in the LMFFI resources section. And yeah. The sprawling immensity of the book, the commentary and detours and little throwaway anecdotes can never be captured by any adaptation, no matter how faithful, and they're what give the book its soul. The musical represents the bones of the plot pretty well, but reading the book is on a completely different level of experience. |
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| What you own |
^ Thank you very very much.
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| Quique |
Wow, that site is still around? Haven't visited it in ages!
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| actor |
I used to think your posts were witty and funny but now I realise that you are just an insanely negative person who just purposefully sets out to point out any tiny flaw in everything. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
You suck. | ||||||
| lesmisloony |
The first time I read the Book, I was furious to find out, upon finishing it, that it was abridged.
The second and third times, I skimmed the bishop, Waterloo, the nuns, and the sewers. Nowww I'm on it and have read it all the way through ever since. Doesn't mean my eyes don't glaze over every few minutes when I'm trying to struggle through some tangents, but it's still worth the effort. |
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| bigR |
I'm probably the only one around here who doesn't really like the book. And I'm still alive. Don't worry, you will survive
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| curlyhairedsoprano91 |
I like the book... I don't LOVE the book. I read the book earlier in the year, and it was good, but it wasn't in the top 3 that I've read this year. | ||||||
| Monsieur D'Arque |
I think the movie could be really good... I'm just wondering what methods they're going to use for some of the sequences... I'd love to see One Day More as a continuous, tracking shot. Also, will it emphasize the pop/rock aspect of the score, or the neo-operatic? ALW's Phantom film, based on another megamusical, tried to downplay the pop/rock roots of parts of the score. I hope Les Mis does the opposite. | ||||||
| lesmisboy |
To The Very Angry Woman - No, YOU suck. You aren't funny, or witty - you're just a nasty, vile, negative bitch. It's no fun on these boards being CONSTANTLY criticised by you. You really are pathetic. | ||||||
| eponine5 |
Does it have to? Back to the movie...how on earth are they going to do Who Am I? |
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| mastachen |
I actually think Who am I is one of the easier songs of the show to put on screen. I'd be more curious about what One Day More would look like, and how the film makers can film I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, Stars, and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables without boring a movie audience. | ||||||
| Fantine |
One day more would be easy! A collective of shots from Rue Pumet (aka JVJ and Cosette), back to the barricades (Enjolras), Marius and Eponine before the gate of the garden of Rue Plumet, Javert scheming with the Royals, the Thenardiers in an alley or even in the sewers doing their bit... I can see it.
IDAD can be done with flashbacks of how Tholomyes betrayed Fantine and her friends. OMO could be done with actually seeing some of the imagery of Eponine. It would be cheesy, but it would work. The musical is kinda cheesy after all. |
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| Quique |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Tomorrow I'll have a kamikaze or something and drink to you, Quique, and lesmisboy. 
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| jackrussell |
That happened to me too - you'd think they should be obliged to state clearly at the front if it's an abridgement, wouldn't you. Fortunately I found out half way through rather than at the end though. I then swapped to the Penguin Classics edition which includes the whole thing but shifts Argot and Waterloo to the end as appendices. Sensible approach IMO. |
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| lesmisloony |
Uh-oh! Don't get bigR started on that one...
I would be amazed and thrilled if, during Who Am I, Valjean was pacing back and forth in front of a fireplace. That would be awesome. And if we could see some of the frantic race to get to Arras, that'd be cool. |
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| Jemibub |
Haven't been here in a while lol.
I think it would be intersting if the started singing the prologue in French with the lyrics suddenly fading to English. Then, at the end of the movie (during the Epilogue) have the English lyrics fade back into French. To me that would be like saying, "The musical might be sung mostly in English, but the characters are actually speaking/singing French." |
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| eponine5 |
I really hope that whoever does the film does their research. What I would like is not a movie of the musical, but a movie of the musical of the book.
With Who Am I, I just can't think of a way to make it flow from inner monologue, to Valjean entering the court and speaking in front of it. But with a film they could set the Robbery at the Gorbeau Tenement. And I like the idea of a flashback in I Dreamed A Dream. That was what they were planning to do in one of the previous movie musical versions that was once in development. |
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| Monsieur D'Arque |
Please, please, please, let us have an inexperienced director who will take the "but the tigers come at night" lines literally. It may well ruin the rest of the movie, but the idea of Fantine singing her power ballad while being mauled by tigers is truly brilliant.
Also, I would like the movie to be based off of MY Les Mis adaptation, not theirs. Featuring, of course, Michael Crawford, as Vampire Michael Crawford. |
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| jackrussell |
The same director might enjoy "at rue de Bac they're straining at the leash" - images of a load of rebel students tied up in dog collars.
And if he does Dog Eats Dog, that will get the animal rights protestors out in force...
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