Hayden Panettiere, Geoffrey Rush, Amy Adams et al. Being Courted to Join Hugh Jackman in LES MIS Film?

Deadline.com reports this morning that filming for Woverine 2, the sequel to the successful X Men franchise starring Hugh Jackman, may be pushed back to the spring of 2012 due to location scouting issues.  The film had been tentatively scheduled to film in Japan this fall, however weather conditions have made securing locations difficult.  The operation may now move to Canada instead.

This means that Jackman will shoot the Les Miserables film, in which he'll be playing Jean Valjean, first, beginning in February of 2012. The film will be shot in the UK.

According to www.itsonthegrid.com, additional actors being courted for the film include Russell Crowe for Javert, Geoffrey Rush for Thenardier, Helena Bonaham Carter for Madame Thenardier, Hayden Panettiere, Miranda Cosgrove, Lucy Hale, and Emma Watson for the roles of Eponine and Cosette, and Amy Adams and Rebecca Hall for Fantine.

Jackman has previously revealed that the new film interpretation will have songs in addition to dialogue to accommodate the medium.

Les Miserables originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen's Theatre on 3 April 2004. When LES MISÉRABLES celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World's Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by "Cats" in London's West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performance.

Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing the film of LES MISÉRABLES with Working Title and Universal. Tom Hooper ('The King's Speech') is set to direct, and no casting has yet been officially announced by the movie's production team. Read the full Daily Mail article here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos