page_title: Les Misérables (2012 film)
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Les Misérables (2012 film) / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: Les Miserables: Sydney, Australia media call Thursday...
context_page_description: Les Misérables is a 2012 epic historical period musical film directed by Tom Hooper and scripted by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, who wrote the original French lyrics, Claude-Michel Schönberg, who wrote the music, and Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the English lyrics, based on the 1862 French novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, which also inspired a 1980 musical by Boublil and Schönberg. The film is a British and American venture distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
  The film takes place in France during the early 19th century and tells the story of Jean Valjean who, while being hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The story reaches resolution against the background of the June Rebellion of 1832.
  Following the release of the 1980 musical, a film adaptation was mired in "development hell" for over ten years, as the rights were passed on to several major studios, and various directors and actors considered.
context_section_description: Following the release of Les Misérables (1980), a French sung-through concept album by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, the musical premiered at the Palais des Sports in Paris in 1980. The English-language West End theatre production opened at the Barbican Arts Centre on 8 October 1985. The subsequent Broadway production opened at the Broadway Theatre on 12 March 1987 and closed at the Imperial Theatre on 18 May 2003 after 6,680 performances. In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. In 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.
  In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures. However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show".
  In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011. Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film. Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.
  The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.
caption: Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film.
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