Amanda Seyfried names the movies she regrets most: “I still have nightmares”
In Hollywood, you are advised never to work with animals or children. If pushed to come up with a third example of industry no-gos, the cast of 2012’s Les Misérables, without any hesitation, would suggest singing live. Director Tom Hooper decided to inject a bit of emotional realism into the musical and do away with lip-syncing to pre-recorded, polished tracks, which gave audiences the horror of Hugh Jackman’s vocals. While female leads Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried faired better, most concluded that Hooper’s live-singing venture was a misstep and meant the emotive tale about poverty, morality, and redemption was undercut by awkward musical interludes that were funnier than hard-hitting.
Critics were kind to Seyfried, who played Cosette, the adopted daughter of Jean Valjean (Jackman). She was well-placed, given she previously starred and sang in Mamma Mia. She arguably had some of the hardest material, and if not the hardest, definitely the highest notes. Seyfried reflected on the role during an appearance on Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ series and concluded bluntly that it was “very weak”.
“I have had a lot of moments where I just felt complete regret,” she admitted. “I wish I could redo Les Misérables completely because the live singing aspect; I still have nightmares about it.” While Seyfried levelled more criticism at her voice than Hooper’s artistic choices, it clearly made his ensemble cast uniquely vulnerable. To some extent, that fulfilled his aims.
Hooper told NPR that the story, based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, was about “real people suffering”. Audiences worldwide have seen it spelt out in song since 1985, and it remains the second longest-running musical in the world. Taking cues from the previous theatrical adaptation, Hooper felt allowing the actors to perform live would give them a degree of power on set.
“If you’re singing to playback, you’ve surrendered one of the most powerful mediums of acting communication, which is the control of time and pace,” he reasoned. “It’s not conducive to getting to a raw, emotional place.” As Seyfried attuned to that emotive place, she relied on Jackman, who she said gave her confidence to sing on set.
“I just remember [Jackman] being so warm, and him knowing that I was struggling and just feeling like he was there for me,” she said. “When you trust your partner like that, even if you’re feeling like shit, something real comes through, and I’m able to speak-sing.”
Although the singing element was nightmarish, it didn’t scare Seyfried off of similar roles. In fact, she’s more prepared than ever for them. “I’ve been working diligently ever since Les Mis to work on strengthening my voice and have some kind of stamina, working on my vibrato, which was just completely lost,” she said.
Adding: “From a very technical standpoint, I was very unhappy with my singing.”
