Rejoice, For Taylor Swift Is Out of Les Mis!

And I bet you anything that she is listening to “On My Own” on that iPod, singing along in her head and relating the lyrics to how some totally mean people kicked her out of what would have been a totally awesome movie. Totally. Well, that, or she’s listening to “On My Own” and pining over Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s really got to be one of the two.

The reason for Taylor Swift‘s most recent sadface is, of course, because the role of Eponine, that glorious role that was widely rumored to have gone to Tay Tay, was given to someone else! Can you imagine? It was pretty much official that Taylor would be butchering this role and ruining the entire movie for everyone, but now, thankfully, all is right in the world, because a legitimately good actress was offered the part, and she accepted it:

Samantha Barks is set to play Eponine in the film version of Les Miserables – the role she played at the 25th anniversary concert.

Cameron Mackintosh announced it live on stage at the Manchester Palace at the end of this evening’s performance of Oliver!, in which Barks is currently playing Nancy.

He told the cast and audience that he had a big announcement to make before flying to America, and then revealed that Barks would be taking the role of Eponine.

It seems to have come as a surprise to Barks – audience members reported that “the look on her face was priceless”.

She tweeted soon after the curtain call: “Most incredible moment of my life!!!! X”

Here’s Samantha in action:

That is what we’re going to get. This is what we could have gotten:

I’m not going to get into how Taylor Swift isn’t that great of a singer, because that’s what the comments are for. I’m just going to say that Taylor Swift’s voice was never meant for musical theatre, and certainly not for one of the most beloved characters in musical theatre. She can obviously thrive as a preteen idol, and she fits in well in with Justin Bieber and whoever else the kids go crazy for these days, but there’s a huge gap between that and being able to do justice to a film version of Les Mis. Just think about Taylor putting her obligatory little bit of country twang in “A Little Fall of Rain.” Did you just die inside a little? Because I certainly did.

Oddly enough, I had a quick texting conversation with my BFF yesterday, the girl who introduced me to Les Mis in the first place, the girl who is so in love with this show that she bought two pricey tickets to a performance and drove us five hours so that I could fall in love with it in person and so that she could have someone to do singalongs with. We couldn’t talk long because I was having guinea pig issues (some people are cat ladies, I am a guinea pig lady), but we did make an IM date for tonight so we could talk about the movie in depth. The odd part is that she was totally for Tay Tay as Eponine. I didn’t have the chance to punch her in the throat for blasphemy via text, but I’m curious to hear her reasoning. Were any of you actually excited to see Taylor in this movie?

It doesn’t really matter though, because thankfully, Taylor Swift will not be ruining Les Miserables, and I can go back to counting down the days until this movie premieres in December. I’d like to thank everyone who threw a fit along with me, for our hurt feelings and outrage probably contributed to this wise casting choice. Pats on the back for everyone!