“King’s” Director To Do “Les Miz”?
Just after I (barely) survived a month in which my incessantly fundraising PBS stations ran wall-to-wall broadcasts of “Les Miz”‘s 25th anniversary concert, I learn that this mega-musical may finally come to the silver screen. And who is thisclose to being signed as director? Tom Hooper, who recently won an Oscar for directing “The King’s Speech.” I would never count Hooper out in advance, but just how good a movie will this Victor Hugo story make? I have my doubts. “Les Miz” is a worldwide brand, but isn’t the global audience more likely to line up for “Mamma Mia” (which, excuse me while I wretch, grossed $609 million and made Meryl an even multi-er millionaire) than the Frenchie tale? Isn’t it just as likely that “Les Miz” will onscreen end up as deflated as that even more successful 80s saga, “The Phantom of the Opera“?
