Back in October, while promoting Real Steel, Hugh Jackman delivered some pretty terrifying news: according to the Aussie actor, director Tom Hooper was considering making his next film, an adaptation of Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables, in 3D. Jackman said that they would be testing it out and seeing what affect, if any, the third dimension would have on character on emotion. Now the test results are back and, like good news about a fatal disease, it looks like they are negative.
Speaking at the British Independent Film Award with the BBC, Hooper emphatically said that his version of Les Miserables would be filming in 2D. Discussing it further, the Oscar winning director explained that they did do tests and he was tempted, but he ultimately decided against it. Discussing his desire to connect with everybody, he said that he ended up ruling 3D out because "some people will physically struggle with it. If you have a certain type of eyesight it can be more demanding than watching a normal movie." Another major factor is the film's length, which he said will be about two and a half hours. Said Hooper, "I believe the story is so strong, 3D is not essential." The film, which is set to star Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne, is expected to go into production soon and is scheduled to be released on December 7, 2012.
It's worth noting that Avatar, the most successful 3D movie of all time, actually clocked in at two hours and forty-two minutes, but I'm not going to sit here and try to give reasons why Les Miserables should be in 3D. Hooper proved that he has a terrific aesthetic eye with The King's Speech and he doesn't need to try any performance enhancers. The story doesn't require it and Hooper doesn't need it. He made the right choice.
