So Best For Film are hot on the case of Tom Hooper, who seems to be name-dropping every single Hollywood starlet in casting rumours for his brand-spanking new screen version of the hit broadway show, Les Miserables. And it’s making us extremely miserable. We’ve heard that the line-up could include Anne Hathaway, Hayden Panettierre and Emma Watson. Shudder.

How about some actresses who can also, I dunno, sing? Maybe that might be helpful.

Either way, here comes BFF’s ultimate Les Mis female casting list… complete with the decidedly less awesome and more likely candidates, just to hit you with a wave of depression on this very soggy Tuesday.

 

BFF’s Fantine – Amy Adams

We here at BFF are huge fans of Amy Adams. Not only has she delivered an amazingly gritty performance in The Fighter, but she’s also proven that she’s able to carry a tune in the hit live-action Disney film Enchanted.

Surely the combination of those two movies alone make Amy perfect for the role of Fantine? A beautiful young woman who has to turn to prostitution in order to survive the mean streets of revolutionary France? A sort of cruel anti-Disney, to combine the best of her talents? We’ve got broken dreams and a girl selling her own hair, all done whilst caring for her beautiful but illegitimate daughter. Throw in a mournful and iconic solo or two and this has, if the world were a good and just place, got Amy’s name all over it.

 

The More Likely Fantine – Anne Hathaway

Why? For the love of God, why? There’s huge and vicious rumours circling the movie circuit that Anne Hathaway, oh she of Princess Diaries fame, is the most likely to take on Fantine’s lament. Now, we can’t really deny that Anne is a good actress (we’ll have to steer you towards Brokeback Mountain, we guess), but we definitely know that she can’t sing. Remember what she did at the Oscars in 2009? Maybe we’re being a little unfair… for all we know, she could really pull this one out the bag. But it’s incredibly unlikely. Turn back Anne, turn back before it’s too late…

 

BFF’s Éponine – Emmy Rossum

Now, we haven’t seen very much of Emmy since her stint in The Phantom Of The Opera. And Shameless which, quite frankly, we don’t really want to talk about. But we do remember that she’s a brilliant singer, who can really hit those high notes, and quite a wonderful actress too. If you don’t remember, let me jog your memory…

Her obvious talent for looking simultaneously vulnerable, bewildered and turned-on would be ideal for Éponine, a ragged waif with a burning case of unrequited love. And saving her from the cast of Shameless would be an act of mercy that might just pay off big.

 

The More Likely Éponine – Hayden Panettiere

Hmm. There aren’t really any words that truly explore the depth of how I feel about this recent possible for the role. Yup, that’s right, it’s the girl from Heroes. And Scream 4. Both of which showed an amazing ability to sing, right? Ha! As if that even matters anymore. It’s not like Les Mis is a musical… please excuse me while I sob into my keyboard. I suppose she looks good and she’s an okay actress but I’m willing to eat my own hat if she proves to sing anywhere near as well as Rossum. Of course, it will be a specially commissioned hat, made of Victoria Sponge, but that’s beside the point.

 

BFF’s Cosette – Dakota Fanning

Mwuhaha, bet you weren’t expecting THAT! But I do have very good reasons for pushing Dakota into the running. Firstly, the girl has only got better at acting as she’s grown older, moving from animation to children’s film to adult drama with seemingly effortless grace. Secondly, I BET she can sing. I just know she can. I mean, she did pretty well in The Runaways after all.

If you look at Dakota in any role and listen ever so closely, you can almost hear her screaming internally “I am the perfect all-rounder!” Add that to the wide eyes and coltish beauty and you have the perfect candidate for Cosette, a young girl without a mother, deep in the thrusts of first love (that’s right, thrusts). Plus, she needs to do something pretty momentous after stooping so low with the Twilight Saga.

 

The More Likely Cosette – Emma Watson

From a magical young actress to a young actress from a magical film now… it’s Emma Watson, she of Harry Potter fame. In fact, her entire acting resume consists of playing just one character and, let’s face it, Hermione isn’t exactly the most… erm… difficult role to take on. Actually, I’m being really unfair.| She also starred in a music video for One Night Only, where she played herself, looking bewildered, and didn’t sing a single note. Check it out…

It’s not that I dislike Emma Watson. In fact, I love her as Hermione… but I just don’t want her in Les Mis. Not ever. Especially if her singing is anywhere on par with that of fellow cast member turned ‘rapper’, Tom Felton. You haven’t heard his new song yet? Yiesh. I really didn’t want to have to do this, but if I must, I must.

Again, I am, quite literally, in love with Tom Felton. I have been ever since I first blinked into his impossibly blue eyes. But the guy is an absolutely STELLAR actor and needs to stick to making movies, not music.

 

BFF’s Madame Thénardier – Kate Winslet

Oh yup, it’s Kate ‘I’m A Bloody Hero’ Winslet. And we’re not just sticking her in here because of her legendary dash into a flaming building for Richard Branson’s mum. Oh no. THAT, my friends, is just an added bonus! So what are we doing here? The easiest reason to start off with is that she’s a bloody Oscar-winning actress. Remember her in The Reader and Revolutionary Road? She did dark and brooding to perfection, so we figure she’d be pretty damn awesome in the role of Thénardier’s unscrupulous wife. Second of all, we here at BFF have just spent a few fun moments humming along to Winslet’s power ballad, from The Christmas Carol. Which is, on the whole, pretty haunting and wonderful. Ready?

Now, wasn’t that something? Like Meryl Streep before her, Kate might enjoy throwing caution to the wind and starring in an on-screen musical. And, to make things even better, this role requires someone who can bring a dash of humour to proceedings. Cue the obligatory Extras reference:

Done! Is there anything the Winslet can’t do? For god’s sake Hooper, we can’t believe you haven’t asked her yet! You can have all the Emma Watsons and Anne Hathaways you want if you give us Kate…

 

The More Likely Madame Thénardier – Helena Bonham Carter

Now we admit we’re suitably impressed with this one. Fair played Hooper, fair played. Helena Bonham Carter is a total legend, after all, even as worthy of a place in British folklore as Kate Winslet. And she HAS given us a musical role before, when she starred alongside Johnny Depp (shocker) in Tim Burton’s (surprise!) version of Sweeney Todd.

Okay, so she’s not the best singer in the world, but she’s thrown herself to the task with apparent gusto. And she would definitely inject some extremely dark humour into the otherwise depressing Les Mis script. We’re quite liking this option. In fact, we’re LOVING this option. If we can’t have Winslet, we’ll settle for HBC… because she’s a bloody legend.

 

Of course, we’re willing to accept defeat if you can think of an even more amazing Les Mis cast… who do YOU want to see in the movie?