Les Miserables Will Not Be Starring a Jonas Brother

Fans of the musical Les Miserables were able to breathe a small sigh of relief this week when it was announced that My Week With Marilyn star Eddie Redmayne has been cast as Marius, the lovestruck revolutionary student who was played in a recent concert version of the musical (as well as the show's London production) by Nick Jonas.  Yes, the Nick Jonas from The Jonas Brothers.  To be fair, Nick does have an impressive musical theater background - he even played little Gavroche in the Broadway production of Les Miz back in his pre-Disney Channel days.  But in the concert version it was somewhat obvious he was a bit vocally overmatched by the rest of the cast.  But he's a tween heartthrob, so many feared it might just be enough to keep him around for director Tom Hooper's upcoming movie version.

Alas, that is not to be, so crisis averted there.  So who the hell is Eddie Redmayne?  Well, he won a Tony Award in 2010 for his role in the play Red, where he starred opposite Alfred Molina.  And he's getting some early Oscar buzz for his role in Marilyn.  But can he sing?  Yup.  Check out a quick sample of his singing voice in this scene from the film Glorious 39, which appears about 50 seconds into the clip:

Yeah...he looks and sounds like a Marius to me.  Turns out he's going Redmayne will be joining a cast that so far includes Hugh Jackman (currently wowing audiences with his new one-man show on Broadway) as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, and Anne Hathaway as Fantine.  More casting announcements should be coming soon.

Les Miserables starts filming early next year, and is scheduled to open in theaters on December 7, 2012.