Les Misérables: Now With More Lightsabers
This article is more than 2 years old
Last year, Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of the musical Les Misérables was a smash hit with both critics and audiences. The film grossed $441.8 million against a $61 million budget, and an all-star cast included Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Anne Hathaway actually won an Academy Award for her performance as Fantine, the down on her luck prostitute. Needless to say, the film was a successful outing for all involved. But you know what would’ve made the film better…lightsaber duels.
YouTube’s SciFiRiot made a short, but effective, video showcasing one of Les Misérables’ iconic moments, The Confrontation with Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, only this time, you guessed it, they have lightsabers. This video is epic. This is an already thrilling, intense moment, but when SciFiRiot adds a lightsaber duel to make it even more exciting. The addition of a Jedi’s preferred weapon really elevates an already heightened scene, and should delight musical theater geeks and Star Wars fans alike.
The two best moments in the video is when Jean Valjean uses the Force to push away Fantine, and the added hint of John Williams’ “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back to Les Misérables is just inspired. You can add lightsabers to virtually anything to make it even more awesome, so the popularity of The Jedi Confrontation was inevitable. I guess the only thing where lightsabers wouldn’t be welcomed would be Star Trek featuring lightsabers. That’s a line you just don’t cross.
Just imagine if Disney could somehow make a full Jedi adaptation of Les Misérables (or any musical for that matter) as one of Lucasfilm’s stand-alone spin-off films. It seems like you might please one group of fans, while at the same time, fully alienate another, because musical theater and Star Wars don’t usually crossover in the Venn Diagram of pop culture geekdom. Although the video above is truly awesome, Star Wars the Musical would be shark jumping. I guess the only way to please both theater fans and Star Wars nerds is to release short videos on YouTube featuring Jean Valjean and Javert having it out with lightsabers.
Director Chance McClain created The Jedi Confrontation video with actors Tyler Galindo, Noah McClain, and Lindsey Vrana. Chance McClain also created the web-series Horrible Turn, an unofficial prequel series to Joss Whedon’s Dr Horrible Sing-A-Long Blog. If you like “The Jedi Confrontation,” you will most likely like Horrible Turn.
SciFiRiot is a new YouTube Channel that features original sci-fi themed content. They release new videos seemingly everyday, such as This Week In SciFiRiot (a review show), Sci-Fine Dining (a cooking show), and The Movie Adventure Club (a comedy show). The quality is surprisingly high.
Check out a slightly longer version of The Jedi Confrontation and Horrible Turn below.
