Red carpet interview with Tom Hooper at the EE Britsh Academy Film Awards in 2013.
DERMOT O'LEARY: Tom Hooper, how are you? Lovely to meet you, congratulations on Les Mis. I was very lucky enough to be in there last year and sat two seats away from you and Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe came out and they did the award, gave the award away. Then were you thinking by golly we've got some film on our hands here?
A. Yes. It was the first time you and Russell had done something together in public and the chemistry was fantastic and a bit more jokey than how they play in the film where they are each other's nemesis. They had a great rapport from the beginning the one of the great things about the film is that relationship between these two guys and they've never acted on screen before --
Q. I knew that, you would think that all the moves are done together and the fact they're in the same country and what not.
Now, all the actors I spoken to along here that have worked with you essentially attest to the fact that you are somewhat of a sadist when it comes to takes, auditions and what not, but you don't strike me as that kind of guy at all. Was it so important to get Les Mis right?
A. Yeah, I mean everyone that auditioned for this film, even Russell Crowe even Hugh Jackman, you know, the system in Hollywood when you've become a very big star is normally you get offered a film rather than an audition. So some people are auditioning for the first time after years and years, but we did it because we felt that Les Misérables is a special case and everyone needed to prove they had the chops to do it, particularly as I was doing the singing live, you didn't want any discoveries on the set and kind of go, "Oh, they can't sing live."
Q. Which is a tough thing to do to have to speak to someone who is an A-lister and someone who doesn't have to audition any more, right?
A. It seemed to make them very excited. Russell said he hadn't been as excited about a movie since A Beautiful Mind and also I learned a lot from doing the auditions about the right way to make the film. Annie's audition was very illuminating about the right way to make the film. Hugh Jackman's audition was mind-blowing, he gave me great confidence in the movie. The number of takes we did depended on the actor. Anne Hathaway, that was take number 4, Eddie Redmayne was take number 21.
Q. Listen, best of luck tonight.
A. Thanks very much.
Q. Lovely talking to you.
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EE British Academy Film Awards in 2013 - Red Carpet Interview: Tom Hooper
