Truly a dream role for Anne

TOKYO — Funny but Lea Salonga (photo) is a part of this Conversation even if she is (first week of December) in Los Angeles. In the film Les Miserables (a.k.a. Les Mis or Les Miz), like the stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s 1832 novel, Anne Hathaway plays the doomed Fantine who’s driven by poverty to prostitution, the same role by Lea in London’s West End (besides Eponine which she played a few years earlier).

You see, before I flew to this city, I read Anne‘s interview in Vogue magazine which quoted her as saying, talking about the scene where she sings the heart-tugging I Dreamed A Dream, “First of all, it could never have compared with Patti LuPone or Lea Salonga, or even my mom (Kate Mc-Cauley Hathaway), really: powerful singers with big, beautiful voices, I knew I couldn’t offer that, but I also knew it wouldn’t be appropriate. If I went for sounding beautiful while looking like this tragic wreck, it would be ridiculous. And I saw an opportunity, because of the nature of film, to just go for it and let it be alive and present and raw.”

Of course, Anne is being humble. In the film, in which the actors sing live (unlike in other movie musicals where they lip-synch), an approach that, according to co-producer Cameron Mackintosh, “could revolutionize how musicals are done,” Anne sings I Dreamed A Dream with so much heart and soul, so much passion and emotion, and so movingly real that you can’t help but be reduced to tears.

I texted Lea that I would be interviewing Anne and she texted back, “Oh of course!!! Just give her a huge hug from me and a big thank you for the Vogue magazine shoutout. That was very, very sweet of her to do. I hope to meet her someday.” I joked that it would take a miracle for a big star like Anne Hathaway to give humble me a huge hug but Lea was persistent. She texted back, “Show her my message. Then maybe you’ll get lucky, hrhrhrhrhrhrhrhr!!!”

Well, I don’t get lucky, even if I do show Anne the message.

The night before, we Asian journalists at the junket watched a preview of Les Miz, budgeted at $61M and directed by Tom Hooper (Oscar winner for The King’s Speech) with a formidable cast (including Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert and Amanda Seyfried as Cosette), and I texted Lea, “Hi Lea. Just done with the preview of Les Miz. The movie, which runs for two hours and 38 minutes, is awesome, spellbinding! Great ensemble acting. Anne Hathaway gives a memorable performance as Fantine and so does Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean. The barricade scenes give me goose pimples and the French Revolution scenes take my breath away. The movie brings the characters much closer to your heart because they’re captured in extreme close-up in emotion-changed scenes. It moves me to tears as it should do to those who will see it.”

Lea texted back, “Hoy, it’s not about the French Revolution ha…” adding, “I can’t wait to see it when it opens in the US on Christmas Day.” (Released by Solar Entertainment in the Philippines, the movie will open nationwide on Jan. 16.)

An article in Time magazine puts it very clearly: “In June 1832, a group of students, immigrants and insurrectionists took to the streets of Paris, demanding change. The fervor of the French Revolution has withered amid vast economic inequality, food shortages and a cholera outbreak. The rebels occupied half the city using makeshift barricades: trembling stacks of stolen saplings and planks…”

Think Occupy Wall Street and you get a clear idea of what happened on the streets of Paris at that time.

I show Lea’s text message to Anne and, eyes lighting up, she gushes about how much she admires Lea. “I adore her. Lea has one of the great voices. She has made a great career as a singer.”

Asked how her mom reacted to the film, Anne says, “Oh, she loved it! It’s her favorite musical.”

After she saw Les Miz as a kid, Anne says she started dreaming of someday being part of it. For years, she dreamed the dream and she has finally realized it…with a bang!  

During this Conversation, Anne laughs a lot, punctuating her every sentence with hearty laughter.

When did you first see Les Miz?

“I was seven years old, I think, and my mom was in it as Fantine understudy in a touring company. I remember that I just sat there, crying, and it wasn’t because I was watching my mom die in one scene. Uhm, that was also the reason. I just found the musical so moving and I instantly fell in love with it.”

Any (pieces of) advice from her?

“Not really. It wasn’t advice, it was just nice to talk to her about the character. Hmmmm, you know, it’s difficult for one actor to give advice to the other because there are so many factors involved. But it was nice to hear her talk what her experience was like.”

You cut your hair. What did you do with the cut part? Are you keeping it as souvenir?

“Ah, no. I’m donating it to charity.”

What scene was the most difficult for you to do?

“The scene where I sing I Dreamed a Dream. It was really hard. I woke up that day knowing that I had such expectations that there was no possible way I could meet them. So I kind of went to work knowing that whatever I did, even my best wouldn’t be good enough that day. And it wasn’t until I saw the film last week (in New York) that I told myself, ‘All right, it’s fine!’” (Breaks into laughter)

How did you feel when you cut your hair?

“Terrible, terrible! It was awful. But then it was done and I was fine.”

You could have used a wig…

“No, it was my idea to cut it. Tom did discuss with me that maybe I could use a wig but no, I thought it would be better to do it for real.”

How did you regain, if you already have, the 25 pounds that you shed for Fantine? (In the interview with Vogue, Anne said that before she started the shoot for Les Miz, she went on a strict cleanse and lost 10 pounds, which gives her a “gossamer quality” in the early part of the film. Then she took two weeks off and lost 15 pounds more by doing a near-starvation diet consisting of two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste a day. “The idea was to look near death,” she was quoted as saying.)

“It’s too personal; I don’t want to answer it.”
      How was your audition?

“It was in August (2011). I was filming Dark Knight Rises at that time. I was in New York and the audition was in Soho, I think. It was three hours long. We sang everything many times. I felt very good because when I finished doing I Dreamed A Dream for the first time, Tom told me that it was the first time that he ever cried hearing the song. So I told myself, ‘That’s probably a really good thing.’” (Breaks into laughter)

What was on your mind while singing that landmark song?

“I was just thinking about what Fantine was going through.”

What can you say about the whole film?

“Oh, I love it! I love it! I’m so proud to be in it. I’m very happy that it was made…and made like this. I’m still sort of…uhm, I don’t know how Tom did it, considering the schedule that he was on. It was kind of superhuman of him. I’m so proud and happy for Hugh and all the actors in the film. It was really beyond a labor of love. Everyone was very passionate about working every day. It was such a privilege working with them.”

Did you cry while watching the movie?

“Oh yes, I did! I think if you don’t cry over Les Miz, there might be something wrong with you.”

You all have to sing every word in the film. How did you keep your voice in great shape?

“You just sing! I worked with a vocal coach for a few months before I went to London for the shoot. And you just, you know, God, you just sing again and again and again and again…It’s like when I learned to fight in the Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises, you break it down according to the individual moves that you do, you build up to it and eventually you are able to string it all together, and then you go up and perform it.”

Would you have played any other role if you had a choice?

“I didn’t care what role I had to play; I just wanted to be in Les Miz.” (Breaks into laughter) “I would have played Javert. Hahahaha!” (Turning serious) “You know, I read the book and it’s heart-breaking. Victor Hugo was able to say so much through Fantine and she absolutely broke my heart. Uhm, so much of what I did in the movie was based on literal passages from the book, like the way I hunched my back. Victor Hugo wrote how…I’m paraphrasing right now…the miserable and down-trodden live their lives hunched over, because their backs are broken. I found so much inspiration from the book.”

Which part of the movie did you find most touching?

“For me, the most touching part is when Jean Valjean is trying to escape Javert; Jean has just had his heart touched by Cosette (Fantine’s daughter played by Samantha Barks as a kid and by Amanda Seyfried as a grown-up) and he jumps into a convent and the person that saves his life is the person whose life he saved. I burst into tears when I saw that part of the movie. Javert has that line in the prologue which is so mesmerizing and wonderful, ‘What spirit comes to move my life!’ I just love that line! In the whole movie, you see that what moves life is love.”

What lesson about life, love and humility have you learned from the movie?

“From doing it? Well, every day was humbling.” (Breaks into laughter) “It was difficult. I mean, it’s not the sort of thing that you can just roll up and do; it’s a ton of hard work and sometimes you feel that your work was not good enough. It’s very humbling. The story is more about faith than religion. I think the story in Victor Hugo’s novel has a very clear message — that we are here to love each other and be kind to each other, and that if we connect that part of ourselves, there won’t be darkness. If we can find love then we can find light. And if we could do that together, then the world would be a better place for all of us.”

There’s a buzz that you are a strong contender for an Oscar. Are you aware of that?

“Yes, I am, I am! Uhm, I’ve been getting some really amazing response from people who have seen the film. I think that this is a new way of doing musicals, and I love it when a movie musical is done well and people enjoy it.”

After Fantine, what role do you have in mind?

(Breaks into laughter) “Hmmmm, I was thinking the other day that maybe it was time for me to do comedy, something light and happy.”

Maybe another musical, a “happy” one this time?

“Oh, I would like to do My Fair Lady. I’m probably too old for it now. But it would be nice if someday they cast an old lady as Eliza Doolittle.”

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