Les Miserables movie: Stars of original stage version get an encore as they join film cast

Wilkinson will play the Bishop of Digne. ‘He shows Valjean the line ahead, after Valjean has robbed him of silver candlesticks,’ says Cameron Mackintosh, who produced the musical on stage and who’s also involved with Working Title and Universal in making the image, which Oscar-winner Tom Hooper will direct.

Les Miserables hits the large screen: Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman will appear inside the movie adaptation of the hit theatre show

‘“i’ve got bought your soul for God!” the bishop says to Valjean — and it’s an attractive moment,’ Cameron told me.

Wilkinson, who played Valjean in London and on Broadway, said that as he’s taking at the role of the bishop, his journey with Les Miserables has ended ‘and i’ve come full circle’.

Cameron also revealed that Ruffelle will play ‘essentially the most fabulous whore’ within the movie, and while she won’t have a song of her own, she can join the crowd of prostitutes who sing the number Lovely Ladies.

Some 27 years after Les Miserables was first staged on the Barbican, the show continues to be running — now on the Queens inside the West End.

Cameron noted that Alan Parker was going to direct a film of it     23 years ago but, for numerous reasons, it didn’t determine .

‘The gods have made the timing right, in that we have now the proper Jean Valjean in Hugh, and the complete feeling about musicals has changed,’ he told me.

The way they were: Frances Ruffelle (right) and Colm Wilkinson (left) with the show’s producer Cameron Mackintosh inside the middle

Hooper has already spent three weeks working with Jackman on his characterisation.

The director might be in La for this weekend’s Director’s Guild awards before heading back to London to take charge of rehearsals at Pinewood studios next week, where he  will work along with his cast for  seven weeks.

Russell Crowe, playing Inspector Javert, may also be arriving next week, along side Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) and Aaron Tveit (Enjolras).

Other key roles are still in negotiation.

The stage show had 28 actors playing quite a number roles, however the film, Cameron told me, may have scores of parts for West End performers.

‘It’s almost like when the musical Oliver! was being made and dozens — probably hundreds — of folk from London stage shows took part,’ Cameron said.

Filming of the script by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg could be done at Pinewood, with some scenes shot on location within the UK. There’s also talk of a few filming being done in France.

Members of the Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences have shied far from Shame — and that i say: Shame on them!

I think Steve McQueen’s movie — starring Michael Fassbender as a sex addict seeking to keep his secret from his friends and sister (played by Carey Mulligan) — is definitely one of the best, most provocative movies to hit the screen in ages.

The films up for Oscars this year are tame by comparison. It’s as if Academy voters are terrified of anything that smacks of danger.

No nomination? Shame starring Michael Fassbender as Brandon and Carey Mulligan as Sissy

What’s happened to the organisation that, once upon a time, went for pictures reminiscent of Midnight Cowboy?

They also ignored Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and its star, Ryan Gosling.

And what concerning the ferocious performance by Tilda Swinton in We have to Discuss Kevin? Or Charlize Theron in Young Adult? Or Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy Mary Marlene? Or Felicity Jones in Like Crazy?

Then there’s Olivia Colman’s stunning portrait of a center-class woman whose self-esteem have been beaten out of her in Tyrannosaur?

And to close out Shailene Woodley, who plays George Clooney’s daughter within the Descendants, which opens inside the UK today, is perverse.

Also, i will be able to’t fathom why the Academy ignored Steven Spielberg’s direction of War Horse.

I hate to claim it, but i believe the voters of the Baftas and the Oscars became lazy.

Several friends in L. a., who’re members, have admitted they skipped watching a variety of movies because they weren’t suitable for ‘family viewing’.

Well, in the event that they can’t attend screenings, they must resign their memberships and let individuals who have the time, and the dedication, take their place.
It’s just shameful.

Rupert Friend will star within the stage version of Dennis Potter’s controversial Seventies play Brimstone And Treacle.

The film version was banned from BBC TV, although I got to look it a long time ago, with Sting as Martin, a handsome but strange young man who turns up on the home of a pair who live with their daughter, who’s in a coma.

The woman is sexually assaulted by Martin — the role Rupert will play — which prompts a bunch of fascinating consequences.

I once talked to Potter in regards to the piece, and he said Martin was a Devil-like character ‘wrapped up within the face of an angel’.

Mr Friend can be directed by Amelia Sears on the Arcola Theatre Studio 2 in London, with performances from May 2.

Rebecca Hall learned to shimmy for some lap-dancing scenes in her new film, Lay The fave. She plays real-life gambler Beth Raymer, who had a head for figures and a figure to compare. ‘She’s a stripper who goes to Las Vegas to work.

‘There’s some way the need arises dip and bend, and that i needed to the way to try this,’ Rebecca told me.

Lay The favourite, directed by Stephen Frears, played last weekend on the Sundance Film Festival.