Last month it was reported (and confirmed, if I’m not mistaken) that Taylor Swift had been cast as Eponine in ‘Les Miserables’. The movie is about to begin filming in England, in fact Anne Hathaway is already there. Taylor has also been spotted in London, hanging out with friends like Gwyneth Paltrow. Everyone thought Taylor was in London to begin shooting the film, but now looks like she may be coming home sooner than planned! Broadway World is reporting that Taylor is OUT as Eponine!

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”

Fellow cast member Jack Edwards, who plays Mr Bumble, called it “amazing”. Matt Harrop, in the ensemble, added: “so happy for my nancy babes. Amazing and incredible news. So worthy! Mx”, with Kade Ferraiolo saying: “Congratulations to the amazing @SamanthaBarks I’ll never forget what just happened on stage:-)”

Lea Salonga, who played Fantine alongside Barks in the 25th anniversary concert and previously played Eponine, said: “It’s official: @SamanthaBarks will be Eponine in the Les Miz movie!!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! Thank you, casting gods!!!”

Taylor Swift had originally been linked with the part.

One audience member tweeted: “Best night ever just knowing I was there when Samantha got told. She really was the best Eponine!”

Samantha Barks trained at the Arts Educational school for a year before entering “I’d Do Anything”, the BBC search for the new ‘Nancy’ in Cameron Mackintosh’s “Oliver!” where she finished in the top three. Following “I’d Do Anything” she took part in the workshop for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Never Dies”. Samantha made her stage debut as ‘Sally Bowles’ in the national tour of “Cabaret”, before taking the classic role of ‘Aladdin’ in “Aladdin” at the Theatre Royal Windsor. Last year Samantha made her West End debut in the role of ‘Eponine’ in “Les Misérables”, and played the role again in the “Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert” at The O2. Television credits include the lead role of ‘Zoe’ in the Disney TV series “Groove High”.

Taylor is now back in California, so it looks like the story must be true. What happened? Can she not act after all? (That’s my guess) I’m thinking it’s a good decision. I saw ‘Valentine’s Day’ – girl can’t act.

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Singer Taylor Swift  is in London right now, and was spotted yesterday visiting the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. Taylor was in a reflective mood as she quietly listened to music while reading the information plaque and viewing the iconic London landmark. Surprised to see her walking around alone – without a bodyguard or anything!

In other Taylor news, it’s been recently reported that the singer has written a song about America’s royalty, the Kennedys.  Rory Kennedy revealed the news to ABC News. “She really just loves my mother which is so sweet,” Kennedy said. “I’m a huge fan of hers, I have young girls and we had been to a few of her concerts. I met with her at one of them and she had read a ton of books about our family. She was inspired and wrote a song.”

Swift had been spotted with Rory at Sundance, where the Kennedy screened a documentary about her mother called “Ethel.” The singer also opened up about her love for the fam in Vogue, when she shared, “The only time in my life I have ever been star struck was meeting Caroline and Ethel Kennedy. I got to spend the afternoon with Ethel a couple of weeks ago. She is one of my favorites because you look back at the pictures of her and Bobby and they always look like they are having the most fun out of everybody. You know, eleven kids, all these exotic animals on their property. I’ve read a lot about them.”

She must have run out of exes to write about!

Source, Photos: Fame/Flynet

Taylor Swift covers Vogue’s February issue. I actually think she looks really cute in these pictures. The 70′s look suits her. She looks all grow’d up and everything.

Swifty is awkward: Clearly, her school days remain all-too-vivid. Swift, who grew up on a Christmas-tree farm in rural Pennsylvania, tells me that when she was in fourth grade her family moved to Wyomis­sing, an affluent suburb of Reading. “So . . . middle school? Awkward,” she says, launching into the first of many comic riffs. “Having a hobby that’s different from everyone else’s? Awkward. Singing the national anthem on weekends instead of going to sleepovers? More awkward. Braces? Awkward. Gain a lot of weight before you hit the growth spurt? Awkward. Frizzy hair, don’t embrace the curls yet? Awkward. Try to straighten it? Awkward!” She starts to laugh. “So many phases!”

She’s always felt like an outsider: As hard as it is to imagine now, Swift always felt like an outsider. “I think who you are in school really sticks with you,” she says. “I don’t ever feel like the cool kid at the party, ever. It’s like, Smile and be nice to everybody, because you were not invited to be here.”

She‘s not going to end up crackie: “Ever since I was sixteen, the question that I get in every single interview is ‘So, all the pop stars right now who are stumbling out of clubs and going crazy—are you going to do that?’ When I was younger, I had to be more insistent with people because they would say, ‘Yeah, they all say that when they’re sixteen, honey. Just wait till you’re nineteen or 20. That’s when it all goes off the tracks!’ But you know, as time has gone by, I’ve gotten that question less and less. I think, for me, the bigger pitfall is losing your self-awareness. Even though I am at a place where my dresses are really pretty and the red carpets have a lot of bright lights and I get to play to thousands of people . . . you have to take that with a grain of salt. The stakes are really high if you mess up, if you slack off and don’t make a good record, if you make mistakes based on the idea that you are larger than life and you can just coast.” She pauses. “If you start thinking you’ve got it down, that’s when you run into trouble—either by getting complacent or becoming mouthy.” She laughs. “And nobody likes that.”

Swift’s homes: Swift splits her rare days off between her condo in Nashville (“very Alice in Wonderland imaginarium”) and a little cottage she recently bought in Beverly Hills (“cozy, Anthropologie, grandma chic”). She’s been spending time in L.A. because she’s quietly looking for the right role in the right movie.

On working out: “I don’t ever want to be that person whose self-image overtakes who they are. I am not a fan of working out that much. There’s no regimen. There’s no personal trainer. I love to go hiking because it’s an experience. If I need to gain stamina for a tour, I will run every single night on the treadmill, but I don’t necessarily like being at the gym.”

Swifty on Jake Gyllenhaal and boys in general: She seems to bring both worldviews to her romantic life. As she puts it, “I think I am smart unless I am really, really in love, and then I am ridiculously stupid.” Swift has famously dated some famous boys—Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal. When she was eighteen, Jonas notoriously broke up with her over the phone—in a call that lasted 27 seconds—an experience that fueled her songwriting. She wrote a damning song about Mayer called “Dear John.” She dated Gyllenhaal through the fall of 2010 (he broke up with her around the Christmas holidays). When I ask her if she is seeing anyone, she says, “I got nothing going on! I just don’t really feel like dating. I really have this great life right now, and I’m not sad and I’m not crying this Christmas, so I am really stoked about that.” Were you crying last Christmas? “I am not gonna go into it! It’s a sad story!”

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Taylor Swift is making a major career move! According to BroadwayWorld.com, the country singer has been offered the role of Eponine in the star-studded film adaptation of the musical ‘Les Miserables’. Amanda Seyfried has been offered the role of Cosette.

If a rumor first reported by the NY Post in late November is true, Swift’s casting represents not only a major step in her acting career but also a major and perhaps unexpected victory over a number of star actresses vying for the part in the Tom Hooper-directed film. The Post reported that Scarlett Johansson, Lea Michele and Evan Rachel Wood were all auditioning for the role as the daughter of the Mr. and Mrs. Thernardier, who will be played by Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. To date, Swift’s acting has largely been confined to music videos, a part in “Valentine’s Day,” a guest spot on “CSI” and upcoming voice acting in “The Lorax.”

Seyfried, who is classically trained as an opera singer and appeared in the film musical “Mamma Mia!,” also has an interesting challenge ahead of her: she will be portraying the daughter of Fantine, who is to be played Anne Hathaway, who is just three years her elder.

The stars round out a cast that also features Hugh Jackman in the lead role of Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert. Eddie Redmayne, who was seen this fall opposite Michelle Williams in “My Week With Marilyn,” has been cast as Marius, which given the casting of Swift and Seyfried, continuing his streak of epic good luck.

Holy cow!! What an amazing cast! I can’t wait!!

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While people like you or I are excited about opening presents this holidays season, country-pop singer Taylor Swift shared what she looks forward to: hot glue.

The singer, who’s no stranger to Christmas crafting, showed off her holiday spirit on Instagram with a snapshot of her gifts making their way under the tree this year.

“I get sort of crafty when I wrap gifts,” she Tweeted. “Like..I had to stop when I found myself hot-gluing Christmas figurines onto the presents.”

Figurines onto the presents? What do you think of Taylor fancy wrapping-style?

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Take a look at this new ad by CoverGirl. Can you figure out why the US’s National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Claims (NAD) has chosen to ban it?

Excessive photoshopping!

Business Insider reports that the NAD has banned print ads for CoverGirl NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara, including the spots featuring celeb spokesmodel Taylor Swift. According to the NAD, the ads made “superior performance claims” such as “2X more volume” and “20 percent lighter” that simply couldn’t be substantiated.

The NAD specifically noted that the Swift ad had a disclaimer printed on the bottom that clearly stated, “lashes enhanced in post production.”

“You can’t use a photograph to demonstrate how a cosmetic will look after it is applied to a woman’s face and then — in the mice type — have a disclosure that says ‘okay, not really,’ ” NAD director Andrea Levine told Business Insider.

RELATED: Check out Dakota Fanning’s BANNED Marc Jacobs ad!

I think it’s about time something was done about this. This issue of false advertising has bothered me for YEARS. As a beauty blogger, I’m  CONSTANTLY being sent products to try out with the promise of this – and that. We see the ads, we read all the claims of “longer lashes” or “fuller lashes” and 9 times out of 10, nothing ever really lives up to the promise! It has gotten to the point (with me) that I really don’t pay much attention to beauty ads at all, because who really believes that stuff anymore? Don’t we all just see it as fake?

Maybelline was made to address an similar Photoshop issue earlier this year, when an ad for its anti-aging “Eraser” product used Photoshop instead of the product itself to erase spokesmodel Christy Turlington’s dark circles. Britain’s ASA banned the ad for misleading consumers.

In fact, Business Insider notes that in banning the Taylor Swift spot, the NAD is specifically trying to follow the ASA’s lead. Does that mean we should expect a banned-ad-of-the-week in the US to match Great Britain? Could this be the end of Photoshopping Disasters?

I’m really happy something is finally being done about this trend in advertising. You should not be able to photoshop results. The UK has been banning ads for years, and they take a much more critical stand on false advertising. Hopefully the U.S. will crack down on ads here as strongly!

Who’s with me? (Pic below…too priceless, I had to)

Last week Taylor Swift debuted her newer, more mature hair cut. What do you think of her new look? Anyway Taylor showed off her new look last Friday by attending the Billboard Women in Music Luncheon. Swift was being honored as Artist of the Year. She opened up with Stylist about why she chose to change her hair.

Stylelist: How did you decide to cut your hair?
I was on a photoshoot and they wanted to do, like, clip-in bangs and straighten my hair. I just said, ‘Why don’t you just cut them?’ They did.

Is it hard to have bangs with curly hair?
It’s actually not. I think I can figure out a way to incorporate them, I was playing around with it in my hotel room and I think that it might work both ways, but we’ll see. It’s just fun to play around with your hair and change it up. I never change it up, so this is nice.

What inspired your transformation?
I wanted to change my look a little bit and I’ve loved the way that bangs look on other people. I always seem to want to straighten my hair in the winter. And I think I just decided to go a step further this time.

How does your style routine generally change in the winter?
I usually wear more jeans. Spring and summer, I’m usually all dresses and skirts, so winter is like jeans, leggings, tights, dresses, dark colors and straight hair.

Are there any pieces in particular you’ve invested in for winter?
I’ve gotten a lot of Rugby and Ralph Lauren stuff because I think it looks very winter-y and Christmas-y, so that’s been stuff I really liked getting.

What’s your go-to New Year’s Eve outfit, hair and makeup?
It would probably be some sort of sparkly dress and straight hair and maybe a bold smoky eye and a nude lip.

What do you think of her look? Love it or hate it?

PS: The dress is Oscar de la Renta.

Photos: Fame, Stylist