Hugh Jackman in Talks for "Les Miserables" Film?

Suddenly, I no longer care about who's directing the Wolverine sequel anymore.

Variety is reporting that Hugh Jackman is in talks to star in the big-screen adaptation of the musical Les Miserables.  Then again, Deadline is saying they haven't quite reached the "talks" stage yet.  Universal, who is producing the film along with Working Title, won't comment yet on what the status of the talks are or which of the two lead roles Jackman is supposedly in the running for, but the thinking is that it will likely be role of Jean Valjean, the escaped convict who is pursued for decades by the ruthless police inspector Javert in 19th century France. 

Back in his early theater days, Jackman turned down the Javert role in an Australian stage production of Les Miserables.  In a recent interview for his upcoming concert gig in Toronto, he expressed an interest in playing the Valjean role in the film version, which will be directed by The King's Speech Oscar winner Tom Hooper.  The script is being written William Nicholson. 

Jackman, of course, is a well-known theater guy whenever he's not playing Wolverine.  On Broadway, he won a 2004 Tony Award for his performance in The Boy From Oz (which I saw 5 times), appeared opposite Daniel Craig in the cop drama A Steady Rain (which I saw twice) in 2009, and starred as Curly in the London production of Oklahoma!.  Back in his native Australia, he played Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd and Gaston in Disney's Beauty & the Beast.  This past weekend, he performed a scene-stealing duet with Neil Patrick Harris at the Tony Awards. 

So, hopefully this works out.  Les Miserables is my all-time favorite musical.  I've seen it 9 times, and honestly...if you don't think this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, then you may just be dead inside.  A movie version has been in the works for a very long time - I have a program from the Broadway production that I got during a school field trip (at the same theater where Hugh later played The Boy From Oz!) with an advertisement for a movie version that was supposed to open in 1991.  Obviously, that never happened, and it's about time it finally did.

Now, I better not hear he can't be in the movie because of the damn Wolverine sequel.