“Joel could not have written a more perfect version of “Phantom” for the screen,” says the actor, calling on his cell phone from Iceland where he’s playing Beowulf in the upcoming “Beowulf and Grendel,” a retelling of the epic poem.
“When I was first approached, I thought, ‘Me? The Phantom?’ I was very dubious about the prospect of being right for the role or taking it on,” says Butler, “not just because of the role itself, but because of it being a musical.”īut once Butler read the script, he says, becoming the Phantom became his passion. Surprisingly, Butler, 35, understands where Crawford loyalists are coming from.
And quite similarly, the decision to cast the unheralded Gerard Butler in director Joel Schumacher’s film version of “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera” drew more than it’s share of growls from discontented Broadway bears who had wanted to see their man, Michael Crawford (who originated the role of the Phantom in London in 1986), reprise the role on the big screen. Yet as anyone who knows their bedtime stories can tell you, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” doesn’t end with the central character scarfing down the perfect bowl of porridge-that’s only the beginning. When he’d finished singing the last notes of the show’s signature tune, the composer and the director smiled to themselves: “This one is just right.” “Too big!” they thought.Īnd then, they auditioned a young Scottish actor with oodles of charisma and a few little-known movies under his belt. Next, they mulled over a handful of major movie stars who were said to be interested in the part.
They considered the actor who had originated the role on stage, but decided against it. Once upon a time, a famous composer and a renowned gay director were casting the male lead in an oft-delayed, big-budget film version of one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time.
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