Les Miserables – Another Hooper Masterpiece?

There’s a lot riding on the back of Tom Hooper‘s film adaptation of one of Broadway’s most successful shows, Les Miserables. Since the very beginning the film’s been pegged as a top Oscar attender. Hell, if Nine (one of the worst film adaptations of a musical in the past 25 years) received Oscar nominations then there’s no doubt Les Mis will. With a killer cast that includes Hollywood’s top talents — Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Amanda Seyfried — Tom Hooper, 2010′s winner of ‘Best Director’ at the Academy Awards for his work in The King’s Speech, and a beloved story originally conceived in 1862 by French author Victor Hugo, the film has all the right puzzle pieces for success; it’s only a matter of whether Hooper and his crew can fit the pieces together.

19th Century Paris Comes to Life

Late last night, after several photos and leaked audio recordings, the world received the first look at Les Miserables. The teaser trailer, released by Universal Pictures, paints a vivid and beautiful 19th century Paris. The costumes, makeup and lighting hint at Hooper’s attention to detail. From what’s been seen so far I expect this film to receive several nominations for costumes alone. The trailer doesn’t give away too much storyline; it’s really just a roll call backed to Anne Hathaway’s Fantine singing the popular ballad “I Dreamed a Dream”. Without any dialogue or singing from other characters it’s difficult to tell what Hooper’s got going.

One Hell of a Year for Anne Hathaway

The star of the trailer is no doubt Hathaway. The shots of Fantine display a side of the actress we have yet to see, and her voice captures the character’s emotion quite well. I must say, Hathaway is stepping way out of her comfort zone with her portrayal of Catwoman and Fantine, which if done well, should gain her some new fans. In general many people disagreed with her being cast as both characters, but Nolan and Hooper know exactly what they’re doing, so in Hathaway I trust!

Musical Theatre Fans – The Gate Keepers

Musical theatre fans are about as vicious as they come. Since the musical theatre genre has such a targeted audience, if this film fails with the theatre crowd, then ultimately it will fail with the general public. You can plug in all the big name actors you’d like, but in the end some people just aren’t musical theatre fans. It’s the sad truth.. they’d rather see Jackman donning adamantium claws than see him sing. But that won’t be the film’s biggest hurdle. With the premiere of the first trailer, people who are unfamiliar with the story, feel as if they’ve been left in the dark. As a teaser trailer it’s accomplished it’s task — to peak the interest of movie goers.

Directed by Hooper, Les Miserables hits theaters in the U.S. December 14th, 2012.

Question

What do you all have to say about the new trailer? Did you enjoy Hathaway singing “I Dreamed a Dream”? What aspects of the trailer did you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments below.

‘Les Miserables’ Teaser Trailer