Anne Hathaway Sings in Les Misérables

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/30/2012 at 09:20 AM EDT

As the ill-fated Fantine in Les Misérables, Anne Hathaway has a keen distinction: She delivers the long-running stage show's first-act lament "I Dreamed a Dream" in the upcoming, all-star movie version, whose trailer has just been released (see below, and turn up the volume).

From the sound of it, the actress and former Oscar host, 29, boasts an impressive set of pipes, and the number, which has been known to bring a tear to theater audiences, sounds as haunting as ever.

Hathaway costars in the musical epic alongside Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Colm Wilkinson and others.

Based on the 1862 Victor Hugo novel, set after the French Revolution and shot in England and Paris, the story centers around Jean Valjean (Jackman), whose tale of woe begins when he is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread.



The King's Speech Oscar winner Tom Hooper directs, and the film – which has been in the discussion stage since the 1980s – is finally due to be released by Universal on Dec. 14.