Valjean- Finally, a main character who was easy to cast! Jean Valjean would be Viggo Mortensen, best known for being Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. There's no logical explanation except for looking at his photo and comparing it to his dialogue in the book. They just inexplicably match.
Cosette- Hands down, Robin Wright. She was the one who did Jenny in Forrest Gump and Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Her character is one of those pointless people whose only purpose in the story is to be a motivation. That's true, everyone she knows is "motivated" to die or almost die- Fantine, Marius, Valjean, Eponine...
Javert- Mostly because of the awesome clip here (http://vodpod.com/watch/601270-neil-patrick-harris-and-jason-segal-sing-confrontation-from-les-miserables) I think Neil Patrick Harris is an excellent choice for Javert. He nailed the facial expressions and looks perfect.
Fantine- Not just because she's otherwise amazing, Idina Menzel rocks this role because she's tough and pretty. Like most of the other characters here, Fantine is dying, angry, and without hope.
Marius- Ben Barnes. He is best known for his role as Prince Caspian. He's got the face, the eyes, the hair, everything. Actually, Marius and Caspian are quite similar.
Thenardier- Cunning, greedy, and as evil as normal people can get, this one is for Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya, the "you killed my father, prepare to die" guy from The Princess Bride). Mandy Patinkin is good at looking totally rock-bottom desperate, something Thenardier is all the time.
Eponine- Don't jump to conclusions here- Amy Adams. Don't get the mental picture of her in Enchanted, she's like a waking dream in that one, but look at the other pictures of her. Eponine is tough and heartbroken, something Amy Adams does well.
Gavroche-Okay, so there are very few good not-quite-teenaged male actors in the world. In fact, exactly one- Skandar Keynes, who was Edmund Pevensie in the Chronicles of Narnia. He even looks the part- defensive, clever, and resourceful.
Enjolras- This is the guy who sacrificed himself to the firing squad at the barricade: William Moseley, who played Peter in The Chronicles of Narnia. Plus, he has blond hair and seems to glow slightly, which is Enjolras' most distinctive traits.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Epilogue
----So, to wrap up, a review of how each character ends the book:
- Marius- of course, he miraculously recovers and marries Cosette. They live happily ever after.
- Cosette- finally gets to marry her beloved but brainless Marius. She inherits her father's millionaire status as a dowry.
- Thenardier- moves to Panama with his family. He becomes a slave trader in keeping with his character.
- The Bishop- I'm not sure if I said this yet, but he dies in his sleep about seven hundred pages ago.
- Eponine- already died a glorious death. Rest in peace.
- Enjolras- ditto.
- Marius' other college friends- died in the barricade.
- Gavroche- died in the barricade while singing at the top of his lungs.
- Fantine- died a while ago, but she is still revered by Valjean.
- Fauchelevant- died of old age in the convent.
- And Valjean... well, he died peacefully in his home at age eighty. Marius and Cosette are there to say goodbye, but first, he gives them the two silver candlesticks the Bishop gave him so long ago. He never sold them for money as the Bishop suggested but kept them through all the times he moved. Jean Valjean is buried, as per his request, in an isolated, overgrown part of the cemetary, with the following epitaph (translated courtesy of a site called Classic Bookshelf I am somehow unable to link to):
- He sleeps. Although his fate was very strange, he lived. He died when he no longer had his angel [Cosette]. The thing came to pass, simply, of itself, as the night comes when day is gone.
That, my friends, is my favorite book ever. Yes, I finally decided on one!
Javert's Predicament
----Javert, feeling that he owes Valjean for sparing his life earlier, permits the prisoner to drop Marius' almost corpse at the grandfather's house. He also detours to his own house, to say goodbye and pack his things. Then, while he's inside, Javert slips away and stands alone in the night beside the river. The stars are multiplied in the troubled water.
----What to do? Letting Valjean go is a crime against the law; he is a convict breaching parole, after all. But to take him back to jail, that's a crime against his conscience. This man has saved his life on numerous occasions now. Does Valjean's constant goodness cancel out whatever crimes he may have performed in a past life?
----The law or the human? Which is more often right? Which is right... right now?
----Javert the pure, Javert the good, Javert the model citizen, is terrified of breaking the law. Any law, no matter who ordains it. He can't sin against the law he worships and he can't sin against his own conscience which has always been right before. There is no way he can go on.
----Javert was a star, bright, pure, and idolized by many. This star joins the rest in the water but soon slips beneath the black surface. Javert is dead.
----What to do? Letting Valjean go is a crime against the law; he is a convict breaching parole, after all. But to take him back to jail, that's a crime against his conscience. This man has saved his life on numerous occasions now. Does Valjean's constant goodness cancel out whatever crimes he may have performed in a past life?
----The law or the human? Which is more often right? Which is right... right now?
----Javert the pure, Javert the good, Javert the model citizen, is terrified of breaking the law. Any law, no matter who ordains it. He can't sin against the law he worships and he can't sin against his own conscience which has always been right before. There is no way he can go on.
----Javert was a star, bright, pure, and idolized by many. This star joins the rest in the water but soon slips beneath the black surface. Javert is dead.
Friday, May 14, 2010
THE Most Epic Scenes Ever!!!
----First of all, this gives away most of the rest of the book. Sorry.
----So Marius and his friends are desperately fighting for their lives in the barricade. And I have to give you the play-by-play here just because it's so awesome. Enjolras, the rebels' charismatic leader, has longish blond hair, green eyes, and a passion for his cause, quite like Luke Skywalker actually. But their side is losing and he suddenly grasps that they are doomed. Enjolras orders a retreat, in order to save as many men as possible from the oncoming torrent of enemy soldiers. But it's too late. He is caught, and then the scene becomes one of those classic episodes we nerds, actors, and gamers love- the epic death.
----Enjolras, the underappreciated hero, stands in the corner of an old shop, the only building left intact. When the soldiers break down the door, they see him there in all his resplendence-- behind the billiard table, standing up very straight, with clear eyes and level chin. This is the only soldier who has emerged from the battle without a scratch. Still really only a child, so much potential and beauty is still there, uncorrupted. He delicately lays down his rifle. "Shoot me."
----He refuses the offered blindfold, preferring to stare them down to the last. He knows that death is okay when it makes a point. To die in vain or die to support your cause- that's the real question.
----A breeze abruptly wanders through the broken window, ruffling Enjolras's blond hair. The morning sun shines in too, giving him a halo. An enemy officer remarks in a low voice of the resemblance to Apollo. It's just after dawn. Paris is still asleep. No one knows nor cares about one boy and his heroism.
----The gun's loud report rents the air. Enjolras remains standing, pinned against the wall, but bows his head, shaggy blond hair getting in his eyes. The end has begun.
----Inspector Javert, being chronically unlucky, has been caught by the rebels while attempting to spy on them. They tie him up, but Valjean, volunteering for their cause, offers to execute him for them. He takes the inspector to a dark alley (trite and ominous, right?) but instead of a gun, pulls out a knife. Javert comments on how this is more the convict's style, but Valjean isn't finished. He saws throught the ropes binding Javert and lets him go. WHAT? Valjean just turned Javert loose and gave him his current address? Javert, the one who has doggedly pursued Valjean for the past nine years? Wow. That's all I can say.
----Marius, meanwhile, is showing off just how much he is like Romeo. They're both so brainless! Also, miscommunication was both of their demises.
----Cosette is forced to move to their other house by her father, who still doesn't know of her love for Marius. Devastated, Marius slips into depression and wanders into the barricade. He picks up a gun and starts randomly firing.
----Marius finds himself being shot at, point blank, by an enemy soldier. But... what's this?... a boy jumps in front of him and stops the musket ball with his hand. It tears through, but Marius' life is saved. And then- get this- Marius thinks nothing of it! He's still so obsessed with Cosette that he barely notices his narrow escape and walks away! Um, wow. He's either really dim or really in love. Possibly both.
----Eventually he realizes that "oh, really? Someone saved my life? Gee, who could that have been?" He sees that same boy lying on the pavement and kneels down next to him. Wait, it's Eponine, dressed up as a boy! She's dying of the wounds she sustained for Marius, who, by the way, is so in love with someone else that he barely notices. Eponine, in excruciating pain, is only comforted by Marius' presence. The life finishes slipping out like the wet blood staining her shirt.
----And then... and then...
----Marius leans down, serene amidst the gunfire, and gently kisses her waxy forehead. "This was not infidelity to Cosette; it was a thoughtful and gentle farewell to an unhappy soul."
----After this episode, Marius is completely unprepared when he is knocked unconcious by a beam hitting his head. And I, the reader, am completely unprepared when Jean Valjean swoops in to save the day yet again (although I should be getting used to that by now, he's always conviently in the right place at the right time) and carries Marius over his shoulder four miles through the dank labrynthine sewer system. He's an old man now, in his seventies. Seventies!
----Finally, he makes his way out by bribing Thenardier, who is guarding the entrance and doesn't recognize him. But he does find Javert. Come on, is there no relief?
----So Marius and his friends are desperately fighting for their lives in the barricade. And I have to give you the play-by-play here just because it's so awesome. Enjolras, the rebels' charismatic leader, has longish blond hair, green eyes, and a passion for his cause, quite like Luke Skywalker actually. But their side is losing and he suddenly grasps that they are doomed. Enjolras orders a retreat, in order to save as many men as possible from the oncoming torrent of enemy soldiers. But it's too late. He is caught, and then the scene becomes one of those classic episodes we nerds, actors, and gamers love- the epic death.
----Enjolras, the underappreciated hero, stands in the corner of an old shop, the only building left intact. When the soldiers break down the door, they see him there in all his resplendence-- behind the billiard table, standing up very straight, with clear eyes and level chin. This is the only soldier who has emerged from the battle without a scratch. Still really only a child, so much potential and beauty is still there, uncorrupted. He delicately lays down his rifle. "Shoot me."
----He refuses the offered blindfold, preferring to stare them down to the last. He knows that death is okay when it makes a point. To die in vain or die to support your cause- that's the real question.
----A breeze abruptly wanders through the broken window, ruffling Enjolras's blond hair. The morning sun shines in too, giving him a halo. An enemy officer remarks in a low voice of the resemblance to Apollo. It's just after dawn. Paris is still asleep. No one knows nor cares about one boy and his heroism.
----The gun's loud report rents the air. Enjolras remains standing, pinned against the wall, but bows his head, shaggy blond hair getting in his eyes. The end has begun.
----Inspector Javert, being chronically unlucky, has been caught by the rebels while attempting to spy on them. They tie him up, but Valjean, volunteering for their cause, offers to execute him for them. He takes the inspector to a dark alley (trite and ominous, right?) but instead of a gun, pulls out a knife. Javert comments on how this is more the convict's style, but Valjean isn't finished. He saws throught the ropes binding Javert and lets him go. WHAT? Valjean just turned Javert loose and gave him his current address? Javert, the one who has doggedly pursued Valjean for the past nine years? Wow. That's all I can say.
----Marius, meanwhile, is showing off just how much he is like Romeo. They're both so brainless! Also, miscommunication was both of their demises.
----Cosette is forced to move to their other house by her father, who still doesn't know of her love for Marius. Devastated, Marius slips into depression and wanders into the barricade. He picks up a gun and starts randomly firing.
----Marius finds himself being shot at, point blank, by an enemy soldier. But... what's this?... a boy jumps in front of him and stops the musket ball with his hand. It tears through, but Marius' life is saved. And then- get this- Marius thinks nothing of it! He's still so obsessed with Cosette that he barely notices his narrow escape and walks away! Um, wow. He's either really dim or really in love. Possibly both.
----Eventually he realizes that "oh, really? Someone saved my life? Gee, who could that have been?" He sees that same boy lying on the pavement and kneels down next to him. Wait, it's Eponine, dressed up as a boy! She's dying of the wounds she sustained for Marius, who, by the way, is so in love with someone else that he barely notices. Eponine, in excruciating pain, is only comforted by Marius' presence. The life finishes slipping out like the wet blood staining her shirt.
----And then... and then...
----Marius leans down, serene amidst the gunfire, and gently kisses her waxy forehead. "This was not infidelity to Cosette; it was a thoughtful and gentle farewell to an unhappy soul."
----After this episode, Marius is completely unprepared when he is knocked unconcious by a beam hitting his head. And I, the reader, am completely unprepared when Jean Valjean swoops in to save the day yet again (although I should be getting used to that by now, he's always conviently in the right place at the right time) and carries Marius over his shoulder four miles through the dank labrynthine sewer system. He's an old man now, in his seventies. Seventies!
----Finally, he makes his way out by bribing Thenardier, who is guarding the entrance and doesn't recognize him. But he does find Javert. Come on, is there no relief?
Thursday, May 13, 2010
My Favorite Scene
----The barricade.
----Law students, thirty or forty of them. All running confusedly through the filthy portion of city street about twice the size of the school gym they've barricaded off with heaps of garbage, chairs, old mattresses.
----Most of them have never held a gun before, and now here they are, brandishing borrowed (read: stolen) muskets and sabres with the bravado they think they should have. This is war; they're rebelling against authority, monarchy, the economic system, poverty... every single person in this world is sick and tired of their misery. Something's gotta give, change will come.
----The tension has boiled over. It's ten at night, the stars are bright, and each man, left to his own devices, trapped in this death chamber he himself constructed, is moodily swinging between patriotic passion and selfish regret. But they don't fear death. I don't blame them. We're going to die anyway; if it comes down to furthering a cause I love or moaning about it at home, I know the choice I'll make.
----But it's hard to remember that choice here. Musket balls fly in an impenetrable horizontal plane, explosions rock the ground, cough on the smoke, food ran out 24 hours ago, got no sleep last night. Gun jams under enemy fire, paving stones piled in a heap next to the bodies, hands crusted in someone else's blood, no leadership, our flag is the ragged coat of the first man to die, can't hear myself think, no functional weapons left, attack with broken glass bottles, lost an arm, hurts so bad, whack my head on a falling beam, window shatters, duck for cover, can't find my friends, dirt smeared on his face, curled up in a cellar, don't know anyone's name, a child is singing somewhere, Paris is indifferent to us... me... my family, who won't be able to find me, identify the body, no hope... locked in to the barricade, no escape, they'll breach the wall sooner or later, only a matter of time, two a.m., no sleep, battle still raging, screaming, yelling, running, can't run anymore, lungs crushed...
----That, my friends, is the barricade where Marius is fighting.
----Law students, thirty or forty of them. All running confusedly through the filthy portion of city street about twice the size of the school gym they've barricaded off with heaps of garbage, chairs, old mattresses.
----Most of them have never held a gun before, and now here they are, brandishing borrowed (read: stolen) muskets and sabres with the bravado they think they should have. This is war; they're rebelling against authority, monarchy, the economic system, poverty... every single person in this world is sick and tired of their misery. Something's gotta give, change will come.
----The tension has boiled over. It's ten at night, the stars are bright, and each man, left to his own devices, trapped in this death chamber he himself constructed, is moodily swinging between patriotic passion and selfish regret. But they don't fear death. I don't blame them. We're going to die anyway; if it comes down to furthering a cause I love or moaning about it at home, I know the choice I'll make.
----But it's hard to remember that choice here. Musket balls fly in an impenetrable horizontal plane, explosions rock the ground, cough on the smoke, food ran out 24 hours ago, got no sleep last night. Gun jams under enemy fire, paving stones piled in a heap next to the bodies, hands crusted in someone else's blood, no leadership, our flag is the ragged coat of the first man to die, can't hear myself think, no functional weapons left, attack with broken glass bottles, lost an arm, hurts so bad, whack my head on a falling beam, window shatters, duck for cover, can't find my friends, dirt smeared on his face, curled up in a cellar, don't know anyone's name, a child is singing somewhere, Paris is indifferent to us... me... my family, who won't be able to find me, identify the body, no hope... locked in to the barricade, no escape, they'll breach the wall sooner or later, only a matter of time, two a.m., no sleep, battle still raging, screaming, yelling, running, can't run anymore, lungs crushed...
----That, my friends, is the barricade where Marius is fighting.
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