New Les Miserables Photo: Valjean & Valjean (sort of)

A new photo from Tom Hooper's Les Miserables was released via the film's official Facebook page today, and it's a great shot of Jean Valjean and the Bishop of Digne.  As fans of the musical already know, this is a pivotal moment early in the story where the Bishop's simple act of kindess essentially shapes the entire direction the disgraced ex-convict goes from this point on. 

As fans of the musical also know, what makes this particular moment even cooler is that the Bishop is being played by Colm Wilkinson, who originated the role of Jean Valjean in both the London and Broadway productions of Les Miserables.  He can be heard on both the original London and Broadway cast recordings - the latter of which I first owned on cassette tape, and I played it so much it actually broke.  He played the role again in the 10th Anniversary Concert version of Les Miserables at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1995, and he also appeared at the 25th Anniversary Concert of the show (this time at London's O2 Arena) in 2010. 

It's been said that Valjean's Act 2 tearjerker, "Bring Him Home", was written especially for Wilkinson's tenor voice, and there's a famous story about how when Wilkinson sang it for the first time in rehearsal, a cast member reacted by telling the composers, "You told us the show was going to be about God, but you didn't tell us he was going to be singing in it."

Here's a performance of Wilkinson singing "Bring Him Home" at the 10th Anniversary Concert:

Seriously...how could they have made the movie without him?

Incidently, "Bring Him Home" was just filmed for the movie version.  According to Twitter, via actor Andy Coxon, who plays one of the "barricade boys" in the film, Hugh Jackman sang the song 14 times in two hours today, and was reportedly "phenomenal".  Whether or not he has a voice left after that (14 times?!) is anyone's guess.

Can't wait to hear it, though.  Les Miserables opens in theaters in December.