The 28-year-old actress was keen to take on the part of tragic Fantine in Tom Hooper's big screen version of the hit musical but thinks Anne was the correct choice.

When asked if she had auditioned, Scarlett said: "Yes, I did. I sang my little heart out.

"The jazz hands kid inside me was just over the moon!

"I auditioned with laryngitis. I did everything I could to, like, not have laryngitis.

"I think, looking at the film now, there's no possible way I ever could have topped that performance [by Anne Hathaway]. It was perfect and I think fateful and meant to be."

It wasn't the first time Scarlett had auditioned for a part in the famous musical.

When she was younger she went for the role of Fantine's  eight-year-old daughter Cosette, so the story has always been close to her heart.

She told Broadway.com: "But, yes, the audition itself brought back so many memories of auditioning for 'Les Mis' for the young Cosette and it was fun for me to revisit that."

Anne has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at this month's Academy Awards for her portrayal of the factory worker-turned-prostitute