(intense orchestral music) - My character is Jean Valjean, one of the great superheroes of world literature.
- I play Javert.
He is a man who is on his own personal quest for justice.
- I play Fantine.
She's the pinnacle of light.
- Les Miserables is just a huge story, spanning a number of turbulent years.
It's very much about the haves and the have nots of the world.
- [Man] Action!
(men grunting) - [Andrew] It starts off with our hero, Jean Valjean, in jail.
- He did 19 years hard labor and was the toughest guy in jail.
When he came out of jail, he dedicates the rest of his life to being a good man.
And the problem is, he is pursued by his ex-jailer, Javert.
- Men like us have only two choices: to prey on society or to guard it.
You chose the former, I chose the latter.
Javert is someone who could have gone down the path of criminality, but at some point in his life, he chooses the path of, as he sees it, righteousness.
And I can tell you, if I'd chosen to be a criminal, I would have been a hell of a lot better one than you've turned out to be.
Jean Valjean represents grace, redemption, seeking forgiveness.
Javert represents retribution, and he doesn't believe people are redeemable.
(bell chiming) - I play Fantine.
She is a young woman who comes to Paris, and she falls madly in love.
And unfortunately he leaves her, and she is left with a child, Cosette.
And from then on her story becomes quite tragic, but she remains ever hopeful throughout the story.
- I play Madame Thenardier.
Fantine is passing through, and she witnesses this sort of idyllic scene of a mother and her two daughters, and thinks she's come across a beautiful family.
But unfortunately, she was wrong, because it's not a happy family.
I've never been able to take to that one.
Nasty little creature, don't bring any maternal instincts out of me at all.
- Nothing you can do about it.
They basically make a slave out of her.
- Take aim.
What we lean into, is character and story.
Fire.
(gun shots rang) - It's been a real inspiration and a total joy to try and bring that masterpiece to dramatic life.
- It is a gripping, gripping story.
- You do not belong to evil anymore.
- Good conquering evil and its got all the ingredients for something that you're gonna love.
(gentle music)
