Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables appears to be making rapid progress to the barricade. Yesterday, Hugh Jackman was revealed to be in talks, but was reportedly being considered for Valjean or Javert.
But if you hoped Jackman would go for mustache twirling, you may be disappointed. Deadline reports that Paul Bettany is in talks to play Javert, and has read and sang for the role. Hooper really, really wants to work with him, and he was the first choice for the lead in The King’s Speech. But family (and vampires) called.
Bettany would be a fantastic Javert. I have no idea what his singing voice is like, but from what I remember, Javert is a little easier on the vocal chords than Valjean is. (I might be wrong, I just remember a lot of talking-singing-Rex Harrison bits…but I’ve never seen anything but the anniversary special!) But acting wise, Bettany would nail it. And it would be so nice to see him climb out of this supernatural apostate rut.