I am not a big fan of musicals, never have been. However, there are a few that get to me, like Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables. The thing I love most about these stories is how they unravel through beautiful, resounding scores of magnificence. Every time I see one of the aforementioned films (or plays) or hear a song from their brilliant ensembles, I cannot get them out of my head. When I heard Tom Hooper (Oscar-winning Director of The King’s Speech) was in charge of a remake of Les Misérables, I was more than a little excited. I could not wait to see what he brought to the table — and the featurette shown after the jump is even more reason to be pumped to see a star-studded and extremely talented cast play out this legendary story.

Hooper and his production team decided to employ a different tactic to film this musical — instead of recording the tracks for the musical in a recording studio and having the actors lip sync to the lyrics while filming, they are having the actors sing live during the takes. This obviously brings complications to filming, but the rewards of this tactic are lucrative allowing the actors to express themselves within the context of the film. Watch this featurette. If this unique shooting style and Anne Hathaway pouring her heart out doesn’t pique your interest, you are dead inside.

Les Misérables hits theaters Christmas Day 2012.

Did This Featurette Gear You Up For Some French Revolution Action? 

 

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewdeery