The Phantom of the Opera

[youcantpullmedown]

Okay, I love The Phantom of the Opera just as much as I love Wicked, and as you may know, there will be a film version of it this fall and I just found the trailer online and FREAKED OUT! Here it is:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293508/trailers

The clips are really short and fast, but I think it looks good.
How long till it opens this Chrismas? (From Countdown to Christmas, www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/xmas_cnt.htm)

167 Days

7 Hours

33 Minutes


I can't wait!!!!

[FlyingHigh]

I'm an obsessive Phan, but I have no desire to see the movie. The show is just too good. ;D

[youcantpullmedown]

i was worried about that too, but I'll still go see the movie. Did you watch the trailer? It looks neat

[FlyingHigh]

Yeah, the trailer does look good.

[wickedOlivia]

I can't WAIT to see this...I think it will be great, loud, colourful, energized...

see I love Chicago the movie, not so much Chicago the musical, I just felt it wasn't flashy or loud enough for me...like The Cell Block Tango, which I just LOVED in the movie wasn't so hot on stage...

[WicKayed]

I know a number of Phantom fans who are boycotting the film because Michael Crawford isn't playing the Phantom. To them, I say you've GOTTA grow up. Yes, Michael's performance was wonderful... but he's getting a wee bit too old... and he isn't the only Phantom. Give someone else a chance.

[youcantpullmedown]

WicKayed said:

I know a number of Phantom fans who are boycotting the film because Michael Crawford isn't playing the Phantom. To them, I say you've GOTTA grow up. Yes, Michael's performance was wonderful... but he's getting a wee bit too old... and he isn't the only Phantom. Give someone else a chance.

I agree with you totally. MC is awesome, but he's 60 years old. The girl playing Christine is sixteen. That's a little too much of an age gap. (Aren't you jealous a 16 year old got to be Christine? :

Besides, did MC even want to be in the movie? I know they were going to make a film in like 1990, with the original cast, but then Sarah Brightman (the original Christine) divorced her husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (the composer of POTO) and that stopped the production.

Have you guys been to phantommovie.com? It's a site completely devoted to getting Crawford to star in the role. The movie is completed, but the site is still up. :)They have cool videos of Michael as the Phantom, though.

The guy playing the Phantom is Gerard Butler. He's been in a few movies (Time Machine, Tomb Raider 2, Dracula 2000). Whether you think these were good movies or not...I think he'll be a good Phantom.

I found this article online about Butler:

August 2004 Edition - Gerard Butler must have balls the size of Gibraltar. As the titular anti-hero of Joel Schumacher's version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's gothic musical, he's taken on what could be seen as a poisoned chalice. For The Phantom of the Opera has a fanatical following to rival the Taliban (obviously with fewer guns and less facial hair) and since the Scot's casting was announced, many have been actively campaigning against Butler- simply because he's not their beloved Michael Crawford, who made the role his own on stage...
" I know, I know, I know," sighs Butler, when Coming Soon reminds him of the expectation awaiting his stab at the tragic, disfigured Phantom, whose love for the beautiful Christine (Emmy Rossum) leads to murder, revenge, and many a power ballad. "I hope they're going to like me. That's very exciting; it's also terrifying. But to be honest, I gave it my best shot."
It's Butler's first lead, and despite the prosthetics hell- "That, to me, is proper torture"- he's sure that Schumacher's fondness for camp operatics bodes well.
"You don't want to say too much, but I will say that I'm very, very, hugely quietly confident." Which, frankly, is pretty confident. "I've seen a ten-minute preview and I could honestly watch that from now to december on a loop and I'd never get bored. It's the best preview I've ever seen."
Time will tell if the rest of the flick lives up to that. But if those legions of fan-toms agree, this could be one of the biggest films of the year- and Oscar might beckon.

[FlyingHigh]

Actually I'm boycotting it because Ted Keegan isn't playing the Phantom. I saw him twice in the national tour and he is PERFECT.

[youcantpullmedown]

I'm sure he's great, but I think you should give butler a chance.

[WicKayed]

Everyone has their ideal Phantom. No matter who they cast, I get the feeling there would be upset Phantom fans. It's like that when SO many different people have played the part over the, what? 16 years it's been on Broadway now?

[youcantpullmedown]

you're right. Besides, sometimes actors who are great on stage aren't as good on screen, so they just found whoever was the best for the movie. But once again, did Ted Keagan, Michael Crawford, Brad Little, etc, even want to be in the movie? And for the last few years, they had always wanted Antonio Banderas to be the phantom.

[ElphieatShiz]

I watched the trailer and I really have to see the movie. But first, I'd like to see it on stage b/c it's kind of bad to see the movie and then the stage show (like for Chicago). I can't wait to see it!

[caitlinda4L]

yea i think i'll see it...the show was amazing and the film will probably be interesting.

[Elphie]

Holy crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppp!!! The preview looks incredible ;D Phantom was the first musical I ever listened to, and the first musical I ever went to see. I was eight and it scared the $h*t out of me because we were in the fifth row and could actually feel the heat from the candles and the fireballs on stage. When that chandelier came down, I thought I was dead. But it will always be my favourite musical of all time. I used to act out the entire play with stuffed animals on my couch every night for months.
I was going along with the boycott when I first heard about the musical because I'm a huge Crawford fan and I'm an even bigger Sarah Brightman fan, and frankly, I didn't think Emmy Rossum had a leg to stand on trying to step into that diva's shoes. I mean, it's Sarah Brightman, for Oz sakes! But after learning more about both Butler and Rossum, I'm all for the flick. After all, if we don't support it, it won't do well, right? And any musical that does well on screen is a good thing, because it means they'll make more. So yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay POTO!!!

[FlyingHigh]

I get goosebumps just thinking about that chandelier crashing down. God, I love that show so much. I *might* consider seeing the film.