Taylor Swift Bullet Dodged: She's Not In Les Miserables

There was much rejoicing among Les Miserables fans tonight, as news broke that the role of Eponine had officially been cast...and that the name announced was not country star Taylor Swift.  That role will instead be played by Samantha Barks, according to a report on BroadwayWorld.

Eponine, for those unfamiliar with the stage musical or the original Victor Hugo novel it was based upon, is the teenaged street kid in Paris whose unrequited love for a young rebel student made her one of the most popular characters in the show, particularly because of her sung-to-the rafters song in Act 2, "On My Own". 

Fans worried that Swift, who's been rumored for the role in Tom Hooper's movie adaptation for weeks, simply didn't have the pipes to carry the role (and she really doesn't).  So the casting of Barks came as a pleasant surprise.

It also came as a surprise to Barks herself, as producer Cameron Mackintosh broke the news to her on stage after a performance Oliver! in Manchester, where she was playing Nancy.  That's pretty cool.

Barks is also the only member of the Les Miserables movie cast to have actually played the role in the stage version, as well as in the Les Mis 25th Anniversary concert at The O2 in London.  She got her first big break via the reality show route on the BBC singing competition I'd Do Anything, and has also played Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Honestly, this film is stacked with so many big names at this point (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Ann Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Seyfried, and Sacha Baron Cohen), that it can afford to cast a few not-quite-as-well-known stage performers like Barks and Broadway's Aaron Tveit (who will be playing Enjolras) and really not have to worry about it.

You can check out a clip of Samantha Barks singing "On My Own" from the O2 concert here:

This is so much better than spending the next few months wondering what Taylor Swift was going to do to this song. 

Also, she won't be the only Les Mis veteran in the film version:  the Daily Mail reported last week that Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, who originated the roles of Jean Valjean and Eponine in London and on Broadway (were Ruffelle won the Tony), will be appearing in the film.  Wilkinson will be playing the pivotal role of the Bishop of Digne, who sets Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean on the right path after helping him evade the police, while Ruffelle's role...has yet to be announced.  But they're in the movie, which is pretty damn awesome.

Les Miserables starts shooting next month, and is scheduled to open in theaters on December 7.