Tom Hooper

The cast of Les Misérables has had an exciting awards season so far! They picked up three Golden Globes, as well as honours at the Critics' Choice and SAG Awards. They also made stops in Paris, Berlin and London where they grabbed four BAFTA Awards. Now the cast is looking ahead toward the grand finale — the Academy Awards — where they are nominated for a total of eight Oscars. Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman both received individual nods from the Academy and the film itself is up for the best picture of the year.

Before Les Misérables faces off against the other nominees at the Oscars on Monday, take a look back at all the fun the cast has had together so far.

Golden Globes winners Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman celebrated their wins with their fellow award recipients and Hollywood friends when they attended the NBC Golden Globes after party last night. Hugh posed with director Tom Hooper while Anne was joined by Les Misérables co-stars Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried and Sacha Baron Cohen on the red carpet. Sacha caused quite the stir at the Globes when he presented and proceeded to roast his fellow co-stars, including poking fun of Anne's now-infamous up-skirt incident at the film's premiere back in December. However, it looks like Anne wasn't offended by Sacha's ribbing as she happily smiled with him for photos. Jessica Chastain also attended the event and proudly showed off her award while grinning for the photographers.

The tables were turned for Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell and his star Bradley Cooper at today's Variety Indie Impact brunch at The Parker hotel in Palm Springs. On the weekend, David presented Bradley with the Palm Springs International Film Festival's Desert Palm Achievement award for acting, but this afternoon, Bradley honoured David with the Indie Impact award for his directing work, calling his experience working with David "magical." Bradley said: "We shot Silver Linings Playbook in 33 days. Many directors would be hospitalised upon just hearing the schedule." All joking aside, the project has been a critical success. Bradley has been racking up nomination after nomination for his role in the film, including nods from the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, and David has been earning plenty of accolades of his own for his behind-the-camera work.

Several of the presenters and honourees from the Palm Springs International Film Festival gala were also in attendance at the annual brunch. Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hooper, as well as The Sessions star John Hawkes, all stopped by to applaud David. Variety, which partnered with Mercedes-Benz for the event, also took the opportunity to recognise 10 up-and-coming directors during the festivities, including Wayne Blair and Rebecca Thomas.

The length of Pitt St Mall in Sydney was lined with a bright red carpet, the longest in Australia by two metres, to welcome home Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe for the Australian premiere of Les Misérables last night. Before Hugh and Russell arrived, hundreds of fans (and passing Christmas shoppers) were treated to the sounds of the QANTAs choir, who sang Christmas carols and iconic songs from the musical. Hugh and Russell looked handsome in matching tuxedos for the black tie affair and did their press duties together, often crossing to the other side to take photos with fans.

We were on the red carpet to chat with the actors, as well as the film’s producers and Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper, who helmed The King's Speech.

On how they would convince someone who isn’t a fan of musicals to see the movie:
Russell: "Well this isn’t really a musical. All the dialogue is sung, for sure, but it’s not a musical that you may have come to understand before. As you’re probably well aware of, every take is sung live, and that’s never actually been done on a musical of this scale in a film. The key thing with this, is that the reason why Victor Hugo’s book has been made so many times — I think 34, 35 major films, the success of the musical over 27 years — there’s something really special in this story, something really human and gigantic in this story that touches everybody. So that’s what I would say."
Hugh: "And actually, 60 million people have seen the stage show. And [producer] Cameron Macintosh was saying, of all the musicals this one attracts more people who never go to the theatre, or people who normally say, ‘I won’t go to a musical.’ The story is incredible — it’s one of the great stories of all time."
Russell: "See, you don’t really break Les Mis down into songs; it was never like a series of hit songs. The music became standard straight away, because people who love this love it because it’s one, big, long operatic breath. And that’s what Tom Hooper has pulled off with the movie as well."

Tom on how he hopes Les Mis will set a precedent for future musicals: " I really hope people rethink how they do their musicals from now on. It’s much more real and visceral, and believable. I think sometimes people who find musicals different don’t quite believe the world they create, and the key thing when you do a musical is you’re creating an alternative reality where people communicate through song. You have to make it utterly convincing, and singing live really helps them suspend their disbelief and just get into the story."

Hugh Jackman continued a week of successes today in Hollywood as he accepted his star on the Walk of Fame. The actor, who earned a Golden Globe nomination overnight and a SAG nod yesterday for his upcoming role as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, had his wife and co-stars by his side for the ceremony. Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and Les Mis director Tom Hooper all attended the event, as did Hugh's real-life leading lady, Deborra-lee Furness.

Anne, who picked up SAG and Globe nominations of her own this week, was spotted proudly snapping photos of Hugh on her phone as he was celebrated outside the famous Chinese Theatre. The co-stars are gearing up for the Boxing Day release of Les Misérables and have been travelling throughout Europe, Asia and the States in recent weeks to drum up anticipation for the musical, with LA as their latest stop. Hugh, Tom and Russell Crowe will be in Sydney next Friday for a local premiere.

Hugh Jackman got a little support from his famous friends when he was honoured by the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC last night. Hugh's Les Misérables co-stars Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne were on the scene to help celebrate his honour. Their director, Tom Hooper, also turned out, as did Hugh's pal Liev Schreiber. The event happened on the SAG Award nominations, which took place overnight, where Hugh and his co-stars got lots of love. Their nods included including best ensemble, best actor for Hugh, and best supporting actress for Anne.

Although Anne went dark and dramatic in Tom Ford at Monday's Les Misérables film premiere, she opted for a light-pink and silver Nina Ricci dress yesterday. Anne recently opened up about her now infamous wardrobe malfunction at the premiere, calling the experience "devastating."

The big winners at last night's Oscars went from the star-studded stage right into the press room to speak to assorted reporters about their honours. Melissa Leo was the first actor of the evening to discuss her new gold, though her priority was apologising for using a curse word during her acceptance speech. Best supporting actor Christian Bale, however, confessed to missing her colourful remark since he was off at the bar with his wife. Other winners like musician Randy Newman and writer Aaron Sorkin also spoke, with The Social Network scribe saying he's going to think long and hard about his next movie project. The Academy Awards' most anticipated honours went to Natalie Portman and Colin Firth, and the actress said that her baby was kicking during the musical numbers like Gwyneth Paltrow's "Coming Home." Colin, meanwhile, joked that his invitation to Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding was lost in the mail, and apparently was still itching to celebrate by dancing.