How long can Russell Crowe hold a note?
Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 1:30PM 
I had an errant random and one might say spoilery thought involving Les Misérables just the other day. Read no further if you're the type of (possibly very young) person who was like "OMG. ANNE HATHAWAY DIES?!?!?" when people first started talking about the film version en masse...
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Okay we lost two of you.
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During Javert's (Russell Crowe) final number "Javert's Suicide", after Jean Valjert (Hugh Jackman) has inadvertently humiliated him by saving his life, he leaps to his death due to his twisted sense of honor -- apparently bayonets aren't so good with the hari kari -- and stage productions have to come up with some suggestive way to show this while the final note of the song falls with him. Whatever he jumps from, even if it's just a few feet off the stage, it's a long way down cuz his note will go on. and on.
How on earth will they film this, sung live, without it looking and sounding absolutely ridiculous? Anyone want to guess?
Reader Comments (21)
Well if you want to take some of the mystery out of it, you can read how its scripted from the Screenplay that Universal recently posted on its awards site:
http://www.universalpicturesawards.com/assets/lesmis/pdf/lesmiserables_screenplay.pdf
You know, I'm looking forward to this movie and everything, but my multiplex has been running that extended preview before almost every movie I've seen there for about a month, and I have to say that I find the overwhelmingly self-congratulatory tone that everyone has about the "singing live" concept to be a little off-putting. Sure, it's an interesting idea, even if they're wrong about being the first ones to do so (since early musicals at Paramount and RKO also had live vocals). But don't put the cart before the horse and congratulate yourselves on doing something before actually seeing and hearing how it turns out in the movie.
And that's if the singing in the movie ends up being really and truly live the whole way through. I wouldn't be surprised if certain people end up getting a little in-studio help in the vocal department.
Autotune.
Tweaks will be made to the live singing...they all make it sound like they are inventing the wheel...
"Stars" is actually Javert's number mid-show. "Javert's Suicide" is his final song where he jumps off a bridge. Both songs have long sustained ending notes though.
I'm a little more upbeat about how Russell Crowe will come across, since the two films that I've seen by director Tom Hooper show that one of his strengths is producing a strong and interesting relationship between two male leads, both good actors.
The mechanics of it are intriguing though. How bravura will it be? Or will it be more actorly?
Long enough to fill my seat, that's how long ;-)
Stars is not his final number, you are thinking of Javert's Suicide.
They drop Russell down a hole dug to China and record his final scream all the way down.
HATHAWAY DIES?!?!?!?!?
More than that note of Javert's, I'm wondering how on earth they're putting "One Day More" together with all those disparate characters singing at the same time!
Apparently the entire movie is sung. No "regular" dialog, everyone who is speaking is singing.
Either this will be the next Umbrellas of Cherbourg or a big fat disaster. Kind wait either way.
Lots of room for failure on this one, but it could also set a whole new standard for musicals. I could easily see him falling off and holding the note long enough.
Even in most professional productions I've seen (Broadway, West End, multiple touring productions), that last note always seems to be modulated to sound like it echoes and get further away, so I think it will be fine. Also it kinda starts as a note and ends as a yell which we all know Crowe can do well (see Gladiator :)
1. Javerts final number isnt "Stars"... that's his big solo before the end of the first act. The song this article is talking about is called "Javerts Suicide"
2. In most stage productions of this musical the final note where he is falling to his death is actually just yelled. So Russel Crow wont have to worry about holding on to the pitch at all. So basically he could jump off stage or whatever and it would sound fine.
of course you are all right and I was thinking of Javert's Suicide.
Anon -- i guess you're right about the echoing. so maybe it'll work. it just seems like it's one particular scene that might be awkward filmed
Kent -- YES. i can't wait to see that either. I'm assuming it's going to be like West Side Story's "Tonight" in which there's a lot of cross-cutting to see all the different characters in the different places with the different agendas but the same song.
I don't think this will be a good movie - especially if they try to stay true to the play.
Half the main plot points in the play would come across as contrived/terrible in a film. There is a lot of potential for embarasment here.
I'm expecting a bad movie, with excellent performances that are hampered by arcs that are built into the screenplay. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Ok, my curiosity about "One Day More" and how it was going to be filmed !led me to universalpicturesawards.com, wjere the screenplay can be found and I have spent the whole evening reading through it. Wow, am I impressed! While Les Miz is my favorite stage musical, I have always felt that it glossed over vital parts of the plot from the book. Fortunately the
screenplay does include some of this material that gives much greater depth to the story.
On stage certain theatrical devices and conventions must be employed to facilitate changes of scenery and costumes. I'm glad to know that this should be much more than just a film version of the stage play. Can't wait to see the movie.
They did not invent the wheel, you are right, Jamie. Singing live while listening to a piano on an ear-piece is exactly what Peter Bogdanovich thought of for At Long Last Love, back in 1975. Mind you, in a way he took more risks than Les Miserables. Burt Reynolds, Cybil Sheperd, Madeline Kahn, Duilio del Prete, Eileen Brennan and John Hillerman were not really professional signers, so they sounded as most of us would sound if we suddenly burst into song in the most unlikely circumstances. The orchestation was great, the Cole Porter songs were wonderful and witty and -what can I tell you- I just loved the film. As usual, La Kahn was extraordinary. And, as a critic said back then, Eileen Brennan -with a cigarette dangling from her mouth, was the best thing to happen to a kitchen since Thelma Ritter was in All About Eve! I recommend the film. :)
Marcos, I have always wanted to see At Long Last Love, but it's impossible to find. I adored Cybill in the early 70s and thought that she had real star power. The movie is infamous for sending Bogdanovich's career up in a mushroom cloud. But I still want to see it, even as a curio. And this movie definitely has its fans.
Brrookesboy: I know it is difficult. I saw At Long Lost Love when it was released and then some 15 years ago on cable. However, you can watch most of the musical numers on YouTube.