| I don't buy for a single moment that Hooper and the studio, producers, and casting director didn't have Hugh Jackman FIRMLY in mind as Valjean before his audition. This is an international movie star with legit stage musical credits who had showcased his singing voice on talk shows, in a Tony winning performance as the huge lead in the musical Boy From Oz, and in the film revival of Oklahoma singing some of Broadway's most famous songs ever and making people melt... he was surely at the top of their list (assuming financing wasn't tied to hiring a star like him in the first place). There is almost no one else out there who checks both boxes of being an actual box office draw as a movie star AND having a voice at the level to handle a musical role like this (whether it was specifically well suited to every part of this score or not). Sure they might have found a movie star with a sensational voice the world or the music world or the musical theater world didn't know about yet (unlikely and rare to be that famous and sing that well and never have used your singing anywhere, but hey, it's possible), and they may surely have considered how to go forward with the movie without a name actor in the lead role... but for a huge musical with a smaller budget than they may have wanted to execute this film, international sales and the box office pull of the main cast was surely an enormously key factor on their minds. I would really think it was Hugh's role to lose. I have to assume this was a big big reason Russell Crowe got Javert. |
