Movie: The Phantom of the Opera

[Pacion]

This is opening in London shortly, and I understand in the US, shortly also. :D I just saw the last 15 mins of a documentary on the making of the movie and it looks really good! (If you like that sort of thing.)

One comment that stood out though was that apparently Joel Schumacher added some scenes that are not in the stage version. Therefore, it would be interesting to see/read the comments of those who have seen the stage version to see what they think - you know, in the vein of, the book is better than the movie/the movie is better than the book.

I think the DVD will be interesting, with the "how did we do that" features, if there is such a section on the DVD!

EDITED: (Interesting titbit. Apparently the lady who did the actually singing Minnie Driver's character was not invited to the premiere in London :roll: It is sad/unfortunate she wasn't invited as it is in the public domain that it is not the actress's voice!)

[etchuck]

From what I have heard:

That Minnie Driver's "singing voice" is actually someone else's... that's a bit more sad. Of course I have never heard Minnie Driver sing before, so.... 8)

[motardmom]

I'm looking forward to this movie for the simple reason of having an excuse to drool at Gerard Butler for 2 hours. :lol: I might be married but I'm not blind!

[Joe]

The book is better than both the stage show AND the movie. :D

[Pacion]

From what I have heard:

That Minnie Driver's "singing voice" is actually someone else's... that's a bit more sad. Of course I have never heard Minnie Driver sing before, so.... 8)

Yes, that's right, and the singer was not invited to the UK/London premiere apparently :roll:

EDITED: Ooops! Getting confused here. Googled! It was Minnie Driver's character who was dubbed for the singing.

[Angelo]

So I assume its not a remake of the old Lon Chaney film?

[Pacion]

I just googled Lon Chaney and I guess not :wink: According to Amazon:

This early "Phantom of the Opera" is, in a word, a masterpiece. None of the other film versions of the story come close to matching this one. It's a top notch production all the way through. As other reviewers have mentioned, the storyline (mostly the ending) of this "Phantom" has been altered and "Hollywood-ized". It is quite different from both the Gaston Leroux novel and later versions, including the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

This film version is based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, with some additional scenes specifically for the movie.

[pygmalion]

Yes. The old movie is an absolute classic. 8) Not that I won't see the new one as well, of course. But I'm pretty sure they're only loosely related.

[Patapouf]

I have seen the stage version on this one, and it was FANTASTIC!!!! (although it was quite a few years ago) So I plan to see this movie and see which one is better. But I bet the stage version is better!

[Swingolder]

I am looking forward to seeing the movie very much.

But I was also excited when they filmed "Evita". I thought Madonna did a great job in that but when they added that dumb song ("You Must Love Me" - so she could get radio play, I guess) and they changed another song from a secondary singer to her ("Another Suitcase" which didn't make sense in the story), I was disappointed. They should have left the songs alone!

I hope they didn't do the same thing for Phantom, but when I hear "added scenes" that scares me.

[Pacion]

I hope they didn't do the same thing for Phantom, but when I hear "added scenes" that scares me.

If it is of any comfort, Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't seem to mind them :wink: