Oscar Redux

Deadline.com reports that Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper is in talks to follow up "The King's Speech" with a musical adaptation of "Les Miserables".

Imagine the scene when Tom approaches a Producer with this concept:

Tom: "If I can win an Oscar with a movie about a stuttering King that has no sex, violence or car chases, the only career challenge left for me is to make a musical based on a 150 year old novel about a failed French student uprising. Either that or Rocky VII. All those steroids finally kick in and Stallone's head expands to the size of a watermelon. He head-butts the current heavyweight champ and regains the title after 35 years."

Producer: "Tom, I don't know how to break this to you, but "Les Miserables" has been the most popular stage musical in the world for decades. Every PBS donor has at least one DVD of the stage presentation. Any other ideas?"

Tom: "In the 150 year old literary vein, there's always G.B. Shaw's "Pygmalion". How about we make a musical of it and call it "My Fair Lady"?"

Producer: "What rock have you been living under, Tom? It was done 50 years ago."

Tom: "I've always liked "Oliver Twist". We could make a musical out of that!"

Producer: "Tom, you really need to get out more. Any other ideas?"

Tom: "If Victor Hugo, G.B. Shaw, or Dickens were alive today, they would be writing comic books instead of novels. Let's take the most popular superhero of this era, Spiderman, and make a musical about him! If we put it on Broadway first and amp up the publicity by having accidents that break a few actor's bones, people will flock to the movie."

Producer: "Great concept, Tom! I smell Oscar all over again.