Dear Sir Cameron Mackintosh (obviously this is not meant to be sent to him),
I have it under good authority that you will be making a film adaptation of the musical Les Miserables. After reading the novel and listening to the musical repeatedly on my iPod, I have some casting notes I would like to pass on to you.
First of all, I think that Enjolras should be played either by Ramin Karimloo or David Thaxton. They both have the voice to portray this character (click on the links to hear them singing as Enjolras), and they both look the part. In fact, if Ramin Karimloo was blonde, the novel would have actually been describing him, or perhaps that's just my personal opinion.
Secondly, Grantaire. You have to cast Hadley Fraser, I cannot actually think of another person who could play Grantaire as well. The other students should also include Killian Donnelly, Owain Williams, Jamie Muscato and Jon Robyns.
I think that the person who is the most difficult to cast is Marius. You should definitely look at Ben Barnes as a possibility - he can sing and he could no doubt pull off the hair. I also suggest looking at Gareth Gates, David Thaxton and Killian Donnelly.
Finally Jean Valjean should either be portrayed by Alfie Boe, or John Owen-Jones, who are probably the best Valjeans going at the moment. As a little side note, if Philip Quast is not yet too old, you could do no better than to cast him as Inspector Javert.
Obviously, none of these notes need to be taken seriously and they are merely suggestions, but I think that regardless who is cast they need to be good singers, good actors and good portrayals of the characters.
Yours Sincerely, Holly Black.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Enjolras
SPOILERS! (that is if you're interested in reading the book, but let's face it: it's heavy, both literally and emotionally; it's very, very, very long; it talks a LOT about French history; and it can get a little, nay, a lot, confusing if you don't know the story. I DON'T recommend reading it)
There are some notable differences between Enjolras in the musical and the book, but despite the differences I think Enjolras is the best character in both book and musical.
In the musical when they discover Javert to be a spy (at the barricade), Enjolras says:
"Tie this man and take him
To the tavern in there
The people will decide your fate
Inspector Javert!"
...but in the book Enjolras tells the students to tie him up and shoot him 2 minutes before the barricade falls, all to save ammunition. He was never going to let the people decide, he had already made up his mind. And this was after he executed (yes, EXECUTED) somone at the barricade for shooting a civilian. He wasn't as nice in the book as he was in the musical - he smiles in the musical.
As well as this, there are some really awesome Enjolras moments in the book.
One of which is when Grantaire offers to go to a cafe to turn the people there to their cause. Enjolras, on his way home, takes a little detour to see how he is getting on and looks very disapprovingly at Grantaire. He had good reason to as Grantaire was sitting playing poker with the people in the cafe.
After Monsieur Mabeuf sacrifices himself to raise the flag at the top of the barricade after it had been shot down, Enjolras shows a very touching side to his character. He takes M. Mabeuf inside the tavern, puts him on a table as a sign of respect and then does something really surprising. He takes M. Mabeuf's bloodstained jacket, climbs to the top of the barricade, and replaces the red flag with the jacket. I thought that was so touching.
But overall, aside from his death scene, which I think is the saddest bit of the book, the most enlightening moment about his character takes place the night of the 5th of June. Courfeyrac and Bossuet are standing (or maybe sitting) at the barricade talking about Enjolras, who is in his perch at the top keeping an eye on the oncoming army, supposedly not hearing anything they say. Well, I think it is best shown by the exact bit from the book:
'"I admire Enjolras," said Bossuet. "His impassive temerity astounds me. He lives alone, which renders him a little sad, perhaps; Enjolras complains of his greatness, which binds him to widowhood. The rest of us have mistresses, more or less, who make us crazy, that is to say, brave. When a man is as much in love as a tiger, the least that he can do is to fight like a lion. That is one way of taking our revenge for the capers that mesdames our grisettes play on us. Roland gets himself killed for Angelique; all our heroism comes from our women. A man without a woman is a pistol without a trigger; it is the woman that sets the man off. Well, Enjolras has no woman. He is not in love, and yet he manages to be intrepid. It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as cold as ice and as bold as fire."
Enjolras did not appear to be listening, but had anyone been near him, that person would have heard him mutter in a low voice: "Patria."'
Awwwww! After him supposedly being unaware of the existence of women, it turns out that he does in fact have a mistress! This makes him seem more human and makes it even sadder when there are only two people left alive at the barricade...
Those two people were Enjolras and Grantaire. Now, this bit is quite long, so instead of typing it all out, I'm going to summarise his last scene - the saddest in the book. Straight after the last scene in the book and the one that translates as A Little Fall Of Rain in the musical.
Well, the barricade has fallen and the remaining people fighting at the barricade are trying to hold off the soldiers. They retreat into the tavern and up the hole where the stairs used to be (they removed them for wood for the barricade). Everyone is killed and there is only one person left fighting against the soldiers - Enjolras, but it turns out that there are two people still alive. Grantaire, who has been unconscious throughout the whole battle, wakes up just as Enjolras has been cornered by the soldiers and tells them to shoot him (himself, not Grantaire). The soldiers prepare to shoot him and Grantaire walks over to him and stands by his side, telling the soldiers that they might as well kill two birds with one stone. He turns to Enjolras to ask if he minds, he doesn't, so Grantaire grabs his hand, Enjolras smiles and turns to the soldiers, who shoot them where they stand. Enjolras gets hit by eight shots, pinning him to the wall and Grantaire is killed and slumps to the floor at Enjolras' feet.
Needless to say, I cried. After Enjolras supposedly hating Grantaire throughout the rest of the novel because of his lack of passion for the cause, he dies happily at his side.
This is why I think Enjolras is the best character in the book, he is certainly the person with the most depth to his character.
There are some notable differences between Enjolras in the musical and the book, but despite the differences I think Enjolras is the best character in both book and musical.
In the musical when they discover Javert to be a spy (at the barricade), Enjolras says:
"Tie this man and take him
To the tavern in there
The people will decide your fate
Inspector Javert!"
...but in the book Enjolras tells the students to tie him up and shoot him 2 minutes before the barricade falls, all to save ammunition. He was never going to let the people decide, he had already made up his mind. And this was after he executed (yes, EXECUTED) somone at the barricade for shooting a civilian. He wasn't as nice in the book as he was in the musical - he smiles in the musical.
As well as this, there are some really awesome Enjolras moments in the book.
One of which is when Grantaire offers to go to a cafe to turn the people there to their cause. Enjolras, on his way home, takes a little detour to see how he is getting on and looks very disapprovingly at Grantaire. He had good reason to as Grantaire was sitting playing poker with the people in the cafe.
After Monsieur Mabeuf sacrifices himself to raise the flag at the top of the barricade after it had been shot down, Enjolras shows a very touching side to his character. He takes M. Mabeuf inside the tavern, puts him on a table as a sign of respect and then does something really surprising. He takes M. Mabeuf's bloodstained jacket, climbs to the top of the barricade, and replaces the red flag with the jacket. I thought that was so touching.
But overall, aside from his death scene, which I think is the saddest bit of the book, the most enlightening moment about his character takes place the night of the 5th of June. Courfeyrac and Bossuet are standing (or maybe sitting) at the barricade talking about Enjolras, who is in his perch at the top keeping an eye on the oncoming army, supposedly not hearing anything they say. Well, I think it is best shown by the exact bit from the book:
'"I admire Enjolras," said Bossuet. "His impassive temerity astounds me. He lives alone, which renders him a little sad, perhaps; Enjolras complains of his greatness, which binds him to widowhood. The rest of us have mistresses, more or less, who make us crazy, that is to say, brave. When a man is as much in love as a tiger, the least that he can do is to fight like a lion. That is one way of taking our revenge for the capers that mesdames our grisettes play on us. Roland gets himself killed for Angelique; all our heroism comes from our women. A man without a woman is a pistol without a trigger; it is the woman that sets the man off. Well, Enjolras has no woman. He is not in love, and yet he manages to be intrepid. It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as cold as ice and as bold as fire."
Enjolras did not appear to be listening, but had anyone been near him, that person would have heard him mutter in a low voice: "Patria."'
Awwwww! After him supposedly being unaware of the existence of women, it turns out that he does in fact have a mistress! This makes him seem more human and makes it even sadder when there are only two people left alive at the barricade...
Those two people were Enjolras and Grantaire. Now, this bit is quite long, so instead of typing it all out, I'm going to summarise his last scene - the saddest in the book. Straight after the last scene in the book and the one that translates as A Little Fall Of Rain in the musical.
Well, the barricade has fallen and the remaining people fighting at the barricade are trying to hold off the soldiers. They retreat into the tavern and up the hole where the stairs used to be (they removed them for wood for the barricade). Everyone is killed and there is only one person left fighting against the soldiers - Enjolras, but it turns out that there are two people still alive. Grantaire, who has been unconscious throughout the whole battle, wakes up just as Enjolras has been cornered by the soldiers and tells them to shoot him (himself, not Grantaire). The soldiers prepare to shoot him and Grantaire walks over to him and stands by his side, telling the soldiers that they might as well kill two birds with one stone. He turns to Enjolras to ask if he minds, he doesn't, so Grantaire grabs his hand, Enjolras smiles and turns to the soldiers, who shoot them where they stand. Enjolras gets hit by eight shots, pinning him to the wall and Grantaire is killed and slumps to the floor at Enjolras' feet.
Needless to say, I cried. After Enjolras supposedly hating Grantaire throughout the rest of the novel because of his lack of passion for the cause, he dies happily at his side.
This is why I think Enjolras is the best character in the book, he is certainly the person with the most depth to his character.
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