eddie redmayne

my icon will be angry marius

lolasteaparty:

Thanks for your patience guys! I am now fully rested up, warm and dry and ready to recount my tales.

So I arrived on set at 5.45am and already there were a few extras there, although our call time wasn’t until 6.30. I didn’t want to be so early but actually it’s something I’d recommend as it meant I had plenty of time to pick up my paperwork and get some breakfast (pictured below). The food isn’t amazing but it’s not bad considering how many people they’re having to cater for. 

After breakfast came hair and make-up, they put my hair up in a plait which they twisted into a bun, it felt very elegant - and my character was only supposed to be lower-middle class! There was a real hierarchy between the extras, there were really scabby people with blackened teeth and greasy hair who were beggars, then my class and then the upper class who all had gorgeous costumes (and whom I was pretty jealous of). They literally only put a bit of cheek tint on my face which kind of traumatised me, since they told me not to wear ANY make up at all - literally I was filmed yesterday without mascara on, the horror!

Once hair and make-up was done it was off to costume, laced up into corset, petticoats and stockings on, then dress, scarf, gloves and boots and I was ready to go!

We went back into the main tent and had to rehearse the song we were going to be singing during filming. I was amazed to find amongst my fellow extras so many people who a) had never seen Les Mis, b) didn’t like musicals c) didn’t know the words to the song we were singing!!! I mean come on guys, it’s one of the biggest musicals in the world, not to mention a classic novel. If you’re lucky enough to be an extra in the film when a lot of Les Misians would kill for your part, at least have a passion for the subject matter. I dunno, I guess a lot of extras are only in it for the money. I don’t think I could ever be like that, I appreciate it’s a lot of people’s livelihood but extra work is HARD. The only thing getting me through standing in the freezing cold wind and rain and doing the same scene over and over again was the fact that it was Les Mis and I could see Eddie Redmayne working before my very eyes (more of that to come…). 

So as we were singing, the most amazing thing happened. CAMERON MACKINTOSH and CLAUDE MICHEL SCHONBERG  appeared (that’s world-famous producer of all successful musicals ever Cameron Mackintosh and composer of Les Mis Claude Michel Schonberg, for those of you who don’t know). I nearly died on the spot. They gave us a little pep talk about how we were singing a song known and loved by millions of people the world over, which was enough to make my head want to explode. 

I was lucky enough to have a chat with Cameron Mackintosh much later on in the day, which went a little something like this:

Me: You know, it’s amazing. This time last year I was writing my dissertation on Les Mis and now …

CM: … here you are filming it! Fantastic! It warrants another dissertation, “I Dreamed a Dream”.

Me: *chuckles heartily at the thought of ever writing another dissertation*

Anyway, we actually got onto the set at 10am and we were in for one heck of a long day. We filmed almost non-stop until 7.30pm (when it got too dark to film anymore) with only one hour’s break for lunch! At first we were just rehearsing and marking the scene, but around 11am the stars started to appear!!

The first I saw was Aaron Tveit aka Enjolras rocking up to the set with his funky hair and red waistcoat, followed by a tiny Amanda Seyfried aka Cosette wearing a beautiful dress and bonnet and exclaiming “Oh my God, it smells so nice,” because we had little miniature fires burning on set, which admittedly did smell quite nice until you were choking on the smoke whilst trying to sing. 

Then of course, the person I’m sure the majority of you are dying to hear all about - Eddie Redmayne strolled in, looking absolutely stunningly beautiful as always, wearing a dove coloured coat which looked great on him. I think they stuck some little ginger sideburns on him too. I’m sorry to say I don’t have many stories about Eddie’s antics on set, only that he seemed very focussed on what he was doing (our ever hard-working boy) and in between takes seemed like a bit of a loner, he didn’t even hang out with Amanda that much, who he was filming next to constantly. He would grab his coffee from an assistant and stroll off, sometimes into the actors’ tent or other times right to the back by where I was sitting waiting! I don’t think he liked the cold either as he didn’t seem his usual cheery self, quite serious. During the first take we did I got to walk right past him and heard him singing, which was amazing! He sounded great. I also got to stand right near him a couple of times on the barricade.

Samantha Barks, Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were also in residence yesterday. Samantha is so pretty and has pretty much the tiniest waist I’ve ever seen, I didn’t see or hear much of Hugh - in fact it took me ages to realise he was even on set! 

As for Anne Hathaway. OMG. Guys I think I’m in love with her. Literally THE NICEST PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. She may have conquered my girl crush list and knocked Zooey Deschanel, Kate Middleton and even my beloved Emma Watson WAY DOWN because she is literally perfection.

She was full of energy and positivity all day, even though it was so cold and she was up high where it was extra windy wearing a thin dress. Before takes she would cheer at the extras and pump her fists in the air to get our energy up, because we were filming a joyous scene. You could tell she really wanted to be part of the camaraderie, I think she felt a bit isolated up away from everyone else. 

I even had a little moment with her after a take, where she was looking down and doing a little “raise the roof” movement with her hands as if to say good job on the take, so I did it back and then she cheered and did it back to me! <3

Then when we’d wrapped for the day, she came right up to the group of extras before she left and said “I just wanted to say you guys are awesome and you did a really great job and I love you, bye!” Seriously I can’t even describe how much I love her. I mean I loved her anyway but now … perfect human being award.

Not sure there’s much more I can tell but the set was breath-taking, it was very hard work but a wonderful experience and something I would love to do again. I’m filming with them another day in June so keep your eyes peeled for more adventures - and thanks for all the support, good luck and urges to kiss Eddie on the mouth - I’ve loved reading all your comments and messages! Hope I’ve given you a satisfactory taste of what it’s like to work on the set of Les Miserables!

omg olivia, I just saw this for the first time wtf

omg taiamadeleine, you just started following me and the first post you saw on your dash from this blog was a reply and not eddie’s perfect face/body i’m so sorry

bb-goose replied to your post: OMG PBS WHY DID YOU EDIT OUT THE SCENE WHERE EDDIE GOES DOWN ON CLEMENCE THAT IS MY FAVORITE PART

lol I was just complaining about this on my blog because as weird as his ~technique~ was in that scene, y’all can show that if you can show a man injured by a bomb with all his organs on display

yeah i mean sure it was awkward or whatever but it was also eddie redmayne so i was looking forward to it and sure it is pbs so yeah they removed it of course like always but i usually watch stuff online so I’m never ready for censorship and i also agree with you that how is sexual relations not ok to see but blood/guts/death is nbd this sentence could go on for dayzzz