I kid you not. Just the other day, I was thinking “You know a movie that no one ever, ever brings up? That draggy, corny 1998 version of Les Miserables.” What a massive misfire and waste of a fantastic cast. You have Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean, and Geoffrey Rush as Javert, and you mess it up? That has to be worthy of a Cockblock article.
Well, now people will talk about it. A few poor souls may even subject themselves to it. Because Variety reports that we’re getting a new Les Miserables. Freshly minted Oscar winner Tom Hooper is directing, as has been rumored for a few weeks.
What will set this version apart from all others though is that for the first time, we’re getting a big screen adaptation of the musical. It’s the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables: The Musical, so the timing couldn’t be better. It’s also ten times easier to adapt than Victor Hugo’s massive, sprawling novel, and the songs are really quite wonderful. For a lot of people, this may be the first chance they’ve had to actually see it. (I am one of those poor groundlings, actually.)
Hooper has a knack for historical pieces, so he’s well suited for the job. He won’t go as flamboyant as, say, a Joel Schumacher. Still, that other Les Miserables sounded great on paper, too. Even with a great cast (Just who are they going to try and train up to sing for this? Can they actually nab Hugh “the only trained singer” Jackman for Jean Valjean?) it could be wretched. Fingers crossed, though…