I have to say, though Amanda's casting doesn't surprise me, Taylor's does. The short list for Eponine included Glee star Lea Michele, Scarlett Johansson, and Evan Rachel Wood-all of whom are notably actors who sing, rather than singers who act. Lea, with her Broadway background, arguably has the voice best suited to the project; ScarJo or Evan Rachel Wood might have been interesting, though. Sure, Taylor will be able to sing the part-if nothing else, we know she's got a set of pipes-but as we've got almost nothing to go on in terms of her acting chops, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.
Amanda, on the other hand, is no stranger to musical theatre. She studied voice and opera as a teen, and of course we all remember her turn as Sophie Sheridan in the 2008 film adaptation of the ABBA musical, Mamma Mia!. Odds are she's going to knock the role out of the park.
In addition to the aforementioned Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Eddie Redmayne, the cast also includes Hugh Jackman in the lead of convict-on-the-run Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert, the policeman in charge of hunting Valjean down, and Anne Hathaway as Cosette's ill-fated mother, Fantine. The film is being directed by Tom Hooper. You'll recall that Hooper's last film, The King's Speech, was a big winner during the 2010 awards season, taking Best Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Picture at the Oscars, among many, many others; so naturally, expectations are high for his Les Mis.
One last point of interest: Twitch Film takes issue with the age difference between Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried: Anne is only three years older than Amanda, which at first glance might make their mother-daughter relationship a little difficult. However, SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! given that Fantine dies when Cosette is still a child, this isn't actually a problem. We can safely assume that while Amanda will most certainly be playing the older, adult version of Cosette in the many years after Fantine's death, she won't be playing the eight-year-old version her.
