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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Les Miserables International Trailer

Is the US release marketing hiding the greatness or the trouble?

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15 Responses to “Les Miserables International Trailer”

  1. Js Partisan says:

    This is your best picture winner.

  2. Pete B. says:

    If it is the only film nominated.

    When we saw Looper, there was a featurette about the making of Les Miserables and the audience acted like they were being forced to sit through an economics class.

  3. janey says:

    Well not offense to the comment above, but the audience of Looper is hardly audience Les Miserables is aiming for.

  4. I totally agree with you, Dave. By the way, great camera movements and excellente framings. It’s incredible how the US trailers are so differente from the international one.

  5. movieman says:

    Pretty damn impressive. Why aren’t they running this same trailer in the US?
    When did Hooper become such a “visual” filmmaker?
    This looks wonderfully cinematic, something I never thought I’d say about a Hooper film.
    Yes, Pete, the making-of featurette currently running in US cinemas is brutally dull and pedantic.
    I must have suffered through it 20 times in the past few months. My “Iron Fists” aud last weekend practically threw spitballs at the screen.

  6. YancySkancy says:

    Regardless of personal taste, I don’t see how anyone looks at that trailer without thinking, “And the Oscar goes to…”

  7. movieman says:

    It’s doubtful whether Hooper will win a second Oscar (a feat denied even Marty Scorsese) two years after copping his (quite frankly undeserved) first.
    But if “Les” delivers on the promise of this trailer, it should have no trouble scoring Picture, Director and a slew of tech nominations.

  8. Stephen Holt says:

    Magnificent. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and a slew of Supporting Actress nominations, Hathaway, Barks, Helena Bonham-Carter and maybe Sasha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne AND Russell Crowe.Plus all the technicals, esp. Sound Editing and Mixing! More nominations than any other film!

  9. sanj says:

    Borat can sing…cool.

  10. I have to admit it feels odd to hear them singing with their “own” voices.

  11. The Pope says:

    However good Les Mis may turn out to be, it is going to have to be a flat out masterpiece to win Best Picture and Director.

    In the modern era (post 60s), only five directors have won twice… Clint, Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Forman and Coppola and of those five, two of them won their second for a film that was beaten out for Best Picture.

    As I said, unless it’s a flat out masterpiece…

    P.S. As an aside, isn’t it odd that certain Oscar winning directors you can give them their first name and everyone knows who you’re talking about? Clint, Marty, Francis, Woody. While some go on their surname; Spielberg, Soderbergh, Polanski… who, in print or on the web says “Steven” or “Roman”. But others you have to use their full name (Oliver Stone, Sam Mendes, Ron Howard… their names just don’t seem strong enough to call them either Oliver or Stone, or Ron or Howard or Sam or Mendes).

  12. Razed by Wolves says:

    I too have probably seen the in-theater promo nearly 20 times. And it’s in front of everything, from Wreck-It-Ralph to Tai Chi Zero! It is so over-long and repetitive, and Hugh Jackman’s “what have I done” part never fails to generate guffaws. It feels like a really desperate move.

  13. glamourboy says:

    Hmmm, but what I think this trailer shows and the US trailers have been hiding is that no one here can sing. I’m a little tired of musicals that substitute vocal talent for star power.

  14. palmtree says:

    I guess I have to take on the role of defender here, which is ironic given that I don’t really like Les Miz the musical. But the promo and the trailer point to the way musicals can be reborn through capturing an authentic performance versus having singing overdubbed.

    The basic critique of movie musicals is that they seem fake. After all, no one spontaneously breaks out into song in real life. But the whole idea of being able to sing organically out a genuine moment will reinvigorate movie musicals with an authenticity lacking from all musicals before it.

    So yeah, Les Miz is pretty easy to make fun of in a trailer just like any other musical is in today’s context. But I’ll bet that the experience of the movie will lay to rest that knee jerk reaction.

  15. YancySkancy says:

    glamourboy: Obviously, this is a question of taste, but to me only Crowe sounded iffy. Most of these folks have a fair amount of singing experience, and the non-overdub approach should be a real boon in the way that palmtree suggests above.

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