If you haven't been living for counting down the days, nay...SECONDS, until the Christmas Day cinematic premiere of one of Broadway's most beloved shows, you haven't been living. I understand what living sorely for a MOVIE PREMIERE might imply, have come to terms with it, and have no qualms about it whatsoever.
I don't believe in magic, but for the sake of this post...
This, my friends, is MAGIC.
Annie Leibovitz's stunning, incomparable, mind-blowing, "catch-me-cause-I'm-falling" images of the cast of Les Miserables for Vogue are enough to have to me gasping out loud, even as I look at them for the 9th time this morning.
"Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne as the young lovers Cosette and Marius, photographed on set at Pinewood Studios, London."
“The whole thing is really one big love story,” says Seyfried. “There’s something about Les Mis that makes everyone see the world differently."
”He’s one of the great literary characters of all time,” says Hugh Jackman of Jean Valjean, “a real study of the human spirit under the worst adversity possible.”
"Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen star as the wicked Madame and Monsieur Thénardier, who enslave Cosette after the death of her mother, Fantine, and exploit others at every opportunity."
"Anne Hathaway cut off her hair and lost 25 pounds to play Hugo’s ill-fated heroine. “Fantine is a warrior for love,” says the actress. “She’s willing to sacrifice everything—her sense of right and wrong, her looks, her very life—for her child.""
“Marius was a romantic stereotype,” says Redmayne, whose character must balance love with revolutionary fervor. “So we went back to the book and found all these moments that showed he was more than just a guy running down the street singing about his love.”
“For the story to have any drama, you need to cast a guy who you genuinely feel could go toe to toe with Hugh Jackman and get the better of him,” says director Tom Hooper of casting Russell Crowe as Valjean’s relentless pursuer, Javert. “And how lucky am I that he actually had a background in musical theater?”
"Valjean rescues the young Cosette (Isabelle Allen) from a life of servitude. “The stakes were as high as they could possibly be every day,” says Jackman. “And that sort of cauldron of expectation and pressure and excitement was exhilarating.”
You need to watch this: (in case you haven't already, and for that, I'm de-friending you.)
International Trailer:
You need to watch this: (in case you haven't already, and for that, I'm de-friending you.)
International Trailer:
And this! This is it! I cry every single time. I'm not kidding. Anne Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" is haunting. Magic, I tell you. Magic!
I'm ready for the Golden Globes, I'm ready for the Academy Awards--bring on the Lifetime Achievement Awards--because my good sense tells me Les Mis might be doing a little bit of sweeping this year.
2012, I think we're going out with a bang.
Countdown: Less than one month. See you at the midnight premiere!
