Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, or simply The Phantom of the Opera, is a 2004 musical romantic drama film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. Produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber and directed by Joel Schumacher, the film stars Gerard Butler as the title character, with Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver, Simon Callow, Ciarán Hinds, Victor McGuire, and Jennifer Ellison in supporting roles.
The film was announced in 1989, although production did not start until 2002 due to Lloyd Webber's divorce and Schumacher's busy career. It was shot entirely at Pinewood Studios, with scenery created with miniatures and computer graphics. Rossum, Wilson, and Driver had singing experience, but Butler had none and was provided with music lessons prior to filming. The Phantom of the Opera grossed $154.6 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the visuals and acting, particularly the performances of the lead actors, but criticism towards the writing, direction and unnecessary deviations from the source material. Despite its initial reception, the film received several awards and a trio of Academy Award nominations, as well as a positive reception from the audience.
Plot
In 1870, a Parisian opera house prepares for the performance of the opera Hannibal, headed by soprano Carlotta Giudicelli. Theatre manager Monsieur Lefèvre plans to retire, leaving the building under the ownership of scrappers Richard Firmin and Gilles André, who introduce their patron, Viscount Raoul de Chagny. Carlotta refuses to perform due to being constantly tormented by the theatre's resident "Opera Ghost", who is said to live in the catacombs below. Facing the performance's cancellation, ballet mistress Madame Giry suggests that dancer Christine Daaé, Raoul's orphaned childhood sweetheart, stand in for Carlotta, who then demonstrates her outstanding singing talents and is a success on opening night.
Christine tells her best friend Meg, Giry's daughter, that she is being coached by an "Angel of Music" sent by her late father following his passing. Christine reunites with Raoul and confides that she has been visited by the Angel, but he dismisses her story. Soon after, the masked Opera Ghost, better known as the "Phantom" and revealed to be the Angel, appears before Christine in a mirror, leading her away to his underground lair. After the Phantom reveals a mannequin of Christine dressed in a wedding dress he made for her, she faints and is put asleep.
Once Christine awakens and sees the Phantom, she curiously removes his mask; he reacts violently and covers his face with his hand. After the duo have an understanding, the Phantom returns Christine to the theatre unharmed but orders the managers to make her the lead in Il Muto, only for them to choose the returning Carlotta instead. During the performance, the Phantom switches Carlotta's throat spray, causing her to sing out of tune, and Christine replaces her. The Phantom then encounters the stagehand and hangs him from above the stage. Christine and Raoul flee to the roof, declaring their love for each other. The Phantom, now heartbroken after witnessing the scene, vows revenge.
Three months later, Christine and Raoul announce their engagement at a New Year masquerade ball. The Phantom soon crashes the ball and orders his own opera, Don Juan Triumphant, to be performed. Upon seeing Christine's engagement ring, the Phantom steals it and flees, pursued by Raoul, but Giry thwarts him as she then privately discloses how she rescued the Phantom, once a much-abused and deformed young boy billed in a freak show, when she was younger. The next day, Christine visits her father's tomb with the Phantom posing as his spirit to win her back, but Raoul intervenes.
Raoul and the managers plan to capture the Phantom during his opera, but he usurps the lead tenor to get to Christine, who soon unmasks him during a duet and exposes his deformed face. The Phantom then abducts Christine and retreats as he causes the auditorium's chandelier to crash, sparking a building-wide inferno to cover his tracks. However, a mob aided by the gathered authorities forms to hunt him down. Giry leads Raoul to the Phantom's lair to rescue Christine, while Meg additionally leads the mob.
The Phantom has Christine wear the wedding dress and proposes marriage. Christine tries reasoning with him by confessing that she only fears his malicious actions, not his appearance. When Raoul arrives, the Phantom threatens his life unless Christine weds him, to which she kisses him out of pity. Moved by her compassion, the Phantom allows the couple to leave. Comforted by a music box, the Phantom is allowed to keep Christine's ring. He then escapes before the mob arrives, with Meg finding only his discarded mask.
Later in 1919, at a government auction held to clear out the now-condemned opera house's vaults, an elderly Raoul bids against the now-retired Giry for the Phantom's music box. Afterwards, he visits the recently deceased Christine's grave and places the instrument before it. Before leaving, he notices a freshly laid rose with Christine's ring around its stem, implying that the Phantom is still alive and will always love her.
Cast
Gerard Butler as The Phantom Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé Patrick Wilson as Raoul de Chagny Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli Margaret Preece additionally provided the character's singing voice, with the exception of "Learn to Be Lonely" Simon Callow as Gilles André Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin Victor McGuire as Ubaldo Piangi Jennifer Ellison as Meg Giry Murray Melvin as Ernest Reyer Kevin McNally as Joseph Buquet James Fleet as Monsieur Lefèvre Ramin Karimloo as Gustave Daaé Paul Brooke as the auctioneer in the film's prologue
Production
Development Warner Bros. Pictures purchased the film rights to The Phantom of the Opera in early 1989, granting Andrew Lloyd Webber total artistic control. Despite interest from A-list directors, Lloyd Webber and Warner Bros. instantly hired Joel Schumacher to direct; Lloyd Webber had been impressed with Schumacher's use of music in The Lost Boys.The Making of The Phantom of the Opera The duo wrote the screenplay that same year, while Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman were cast to reprise their roles from the original stage production. Filming was set to begin at Pinewood Studios in England in July 1990, under a $25 million budget.
However, the start date was pushed to November 1990 at both Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany and Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic. Production for The Phantom of the Opera was stalled with Lloyd Webber and Brightman's divorce. "Everything got tied up in settlements", Schumacher reflected. "Then my career took off and I was really busy." As a result, The Phantom of the Opera languished in development limbo for Warner Bros. throughout the 1990s. In February 1997, Schumacher considered returning, but eventually dropped out in favour of Batman Unchained, Runaway Jury and Dreamgirls. The studio was keen to cast John Travolta for the lead role, but also held discussions with Antonio Banderas, who undertook vocal preparation and sang the role of the Phantom in the TV special Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration.
Schumacher and Lloyd Webber restarted development for The Phantom of the Opera in December 2002. It was then announced in January 2003 that Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group had purchased the film rights from Warner Bros. in an attempt to produce The Phantom of the Opera independently. As a result, Lloyd Webber invested $6 million of his own money. The Phantom of the Opera was produced on an $80 million budget. Warner Bros. was given a first-look deal for distribution; when the principal cast was chosen in June 2003, Warner Bros. paid under $8 million to acquire the North American distribution rights.
Casting Hugh Jackman was among those considered for the role of Phantom, but he faced scheduling conflicts with Van Helsing. "They rang to ask about my availability", Jackman explained in an April 2003 interview, "probably about 20 other actors as well. I wasn't available, unfortunately. So, that was a bummer." "We needed somebody who has a bit of rock and roll sensibility in him", Andrew Lloyd Webber explained. "He's got to be a bit rough, a bit dangerous; not a conventional singer. Christine is attracted to the Phantom because he's the right side of danger." Director Joel Schumacher had been impressed with Gerard Butler's performance in Dracula 2000. Prior to his audition, Butler had no professional singing experience and had only taken four voice lessons before singing "The Music of the Night" for Lloyd Webber.
Katie Holmes, who began working with a vocal coach, was the front-runner for Christine Daaé in March 2003. She was later replaced by Anne Hathaway, a classically trained soprano, in 2004. However, Hathaway dropped out of the role because the production schedule of the film overlapped with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which she was contractually obligated to make. Hathaway was then replaced with Emmy Rossum. The actress modeled the relationship between the Phantom and Christine after Suzanne Farrell and George Balanchine. Patrick Wilson was cast as Raoul based on his previous Broadway theatre career. For the role of Carlotta, Minnie Driver devised an over-the-top and campy performance as the egotistical prima donna. Despite also lacking singing experience, Ciarán Hinds was cast by Schumacher as Richard Firmin; the two had previously worked together on Veronica Guerin. Ramin Karimloo, who later played the Phantom as well as Raoul on London's West End, briefly appears as the portrait of Gustave Daaé, Christine's father.
Filming Principal photography lasted from 15 September 2003 to 15 January 2004. The film was shot entirely using eight sound stages at Pinewood Studios, where, on the Pinewood backlot, the bottom half exterior of the opera house was constructed. The top half was implemented using a combination of computer-generated imagery and a scale model created by Cinesite. The surrounding skyline seen during the "Why Have You Brought Me Here?/Raoul, I've Been There" and "All I Ask of You" sequences was entirely composed of matte paintings. Cinesite additionally created a miniature version of the auditorium's chandelier used for its fall, since the life-size model was too big for the actual set.
Production designer Anthony D. G. Pratt was influenced by French architect Charles Garnier, designer of the original Paris opera house, as well as Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, Gustave Caillebotte, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Schumacher was inspired by Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1946) and featured a hallway lined with candelabra-holding arms. The cemetery was based on the Père Lachaise and Montparnasse. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne used a limited black, white, gold and silver color palette for the "Masquerade" sequence in spite of the lyrics indicating that it is a multicolored affair in which mauve, puce, green and yellow are some of the colors worn by attendees.
Reception
Release