So it seems tough guys do dance.
Russell Crowe has signed on to join the big-screen adaptation of the musical “Les Miserables”, playing the heartless police inspector Javert, who persecutes Hugh Jackman's impoverished Jean Valjean after the man steals bread to feed his family, Universal and Working Title confirmed on September 8.
Tom Hooper, Oscar-winning director of “The King's Speech”, will helm the film, which is aiming for release in end 2012.
Unlike the 1998 adaptation from director Bille August, which was an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel, Hooper's film will be bringing the Broadway musical, written by Claude-Michel Schönberg, to the silver screen. It was originally rumoured that Paul Bettany would be playing the role of Javert, but the new article makes no mention of it. Crowe has been fairly busy as of late, as he is set to star with Mark Wahlberg in Allen Hughes' “Broken City”; play Superman's biological father in Zack Snyder's “Man of Steel”; and appear alongside The RZA in the kung-fu epic “The Man with the Iron Fists”.
If you're wondering if Crowe has the singing voice for the part, the answer is yes. Back in the 1980s he actually wrote and performed a song called “I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando” (which is ironic considering he's now going to play Jor-El in Superman) and has formed two Australian rock bands, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts and The Ordinary Fear of God. That said, his voice has also been known to drive tugboats to suicide, so who knows?
