video transcript

The cast of the highly anticipated big screen musical "Les Miserables" got a surprise in Tokyo on Wednesday (November 28), as about 2,500 fans belted out a Japanese version of one of the show's signature numbers. Stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried were joined by the film's director Tom Hooper at a two-hour promotional event in the Japanese capital. Hugh Jackman said he had always wanted to play a part in the movie version of the stage hit, and found the filming style a heart-in-mouth experience. SOUNDBITE: Hugh Jackman, saying (English): "Every day on set was like an opening night, I would wake up in the morning, I would look at my pillow and I would think 'when I put my head back down on you tonight, I may never sing this song again'. So every day had that feeling, special feeling, like an opening night in the theater." For Anne Hathaway, long a musical theater fan, it was a dream come true. SOUNDBITE: Anne Hathaway, saying (English): "The realization that a dream that I couldn't even speak out loud because it seemed like too much to want, the way it hit me was very quiet, as so many of the most important events in my life have been. And I suppose I expected that really deep inner joy to diminish with time, but to be perfectly honest it hasn't." "Les Miserables" opens in Japan on December 21 and in the United States on Christmas Day.