Les Miserables -2012 -

For most of the cast, this was grueling but manageable. For Hugh Jackman, playing Jean Valjean, it became a waking nightmare.

But there was no stopping. Hooper was shooting chronologically (unusual for films), meaning Jackman started with young, vigorous Valjean and aged into the broken, dying father. Each day demanded more vocal anguish, more emotional collapse. les miserables -2012

When the film premiered, a critic wrote that Jackman’s performance sounded like a man "singing on the edge of his own destruction." They meant it as praise. They had no idea how literal it was. For most of the cast, this was grueling but manageable