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If you had directed "The Phantom of the Opera"

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#1

If you had directed "The Phantom of the Opera"

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:18pm

What would you change?
For me:
The ANNOYING dancers in the PONR scene.
Second, Christine mouthing "I love you" to Raoul right before she kisses the Phantom near the end of "Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer"...I mean, that just ruined EVERYTHING! Christine was supposed to "mean" that kiss, not just so Raoul could live! That really broke me down.
Another thing: TOO MANY "flash back to the future" thing...It disrupted the flow of the movie. They should have started out with the auction (which they did) and then flash back for a second time at the every end.
Masquerade needed a lot more colors. And the dancing needed to be better.
Another thing about the PONR: The setting should have been better. It was too crappy! I think they should've done it like the way they did on stage. (The picnick table thing and all) In the movie they only had a pair of twirling stairs and the bridge at the top of it...It was too dull for me. (But I liked the way they did the crossing of the bridge when the Phantom and Chrisine sung "the bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn. We've passed the point of no return.") Also, the Phantom should've wore the cloak like they did on stage. I liked the way Christine discovers that the man behind the cloak is actually the Phantom in the middle of the song. In the movie, everyone knew it from the start.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky. With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, when they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway, and he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat... (The Highwayman. Sung by: Loreena McKennitt)
#3

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:22pm

Enjoyed the movie more than we thought we would but one thing was missing.

How can you have a POTO without him playing his pipe organ. Was it cut to save money. Major boo boo

The guy who played the Phantom looked like Antonio Banderas when he had his mask on
Poster Emeritus
#4

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:25pm

O yeah, the pipe organ! Yeah, they should've had him play one.
The singing though was ok for me...NOT THE BEST I'VE EVER HEARD...
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky. With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, when they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway, and he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat... (The Highwayman. Sung by: Loreena McKennitt)
#5

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:26pm

Oh, goodness, Broadway_Bound_Star. THEY CAN SING. Maybe not as well as the B'way folks, but they pulled it off. It was better than having Elaine Stritch and Harvey Fierstein as Christine and the Phantom, respectively... or in whichever order you feel fits better. (I'm not being mean; I'm just picking on ya! Hehe... No hard feelings!)

If I directed the film, it would have been awful. I suck at directing!

Updated On: 1/1/05 at 09:26 PM

#7

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:33pm

Joshua488-THEY CAN SING. Maybe not as well as the B'way folks, but they pulled it off

You call that pulling it off??? The woman who is Christine (Can't remember her name..) Can't sing "All I ask of you" Its supposed to be someone "pretty" she completly MURDERED the song. At least when I hear it i cring in the horribleness.
#8

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:36pm

Out of a 10 , my wife & I give in an 8.5 . After hearing it was the biggest piece of dreck ever, we were plesantly surprised. These are the same folks who panned Meet The Fockers ( enjoyed it also )

I will buy the POTO DVD most certainly. The Phantom's voice was acceptable. Not great but not bad

The physical design was great especially transforming the wrecked opera house to the real one.The falling chandelier was a tad disappointing & was similar to the stage version
Poster Emeritus

Updated On: 1/1/05 at 09:36 PM

#9

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:38pm

I wouldn't have bothered...

But I can't really talk because I don't see it until tonight. I'm not a huge fan of the stage show (and I saw it with ANTHONY WARLOW...I mean, come on!) so let's see if the movie doesn anything for me...

Having Patrick Wilson = huge + for me!!!
#10

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 9:40pm

Gerard Butler's voice was OK (BUT I LOVE HIM STILL). Emmy Rossum's was good and so was Patrick Wilson's (BUT I HATE HIM STILL)
Gerry's acting, I think, made up for his singing. Man, he left me crying all the way home from the theatre!
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky. With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, when they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway, and he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat... (The Highwayman. Sung by: Loreena McKennitt)
#12

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 11:18pm

Phantomerik15, I agree with you on the whole cloak thing in "PONR". It's my favorite scene in the musical and I really liked the whole idea of Christine finding out she is singing with the Phantom. I was surprised it wasn't done that way in the film.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#13

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/1/05 at 11:28pm

You don't understand. PONR is the part of the show where people really start to fall asleep. The picnic table and no dancers would have made it more dull, not less.
#14

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:28am

Yes, I DO consider that "pulling it off". You may think that Emmy Rossum "murdered" the song, but that is because you are comparing it to other singers. If you walked into the theater with a clean slate, ready to accept the film for what it is, as opposed to what it lacks when paralled to a stage production, then you would realize that the actors did a pretty damn good job. Give people credit when they deserve it, jeez. They obviously were cast for a reason. If they just wanted pretty faces on screen, they could have cast Heidi Klum and Jude Law, but they didn't.
#15

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:59am

I saw it tonight. WOW. i thought it was absolutely amazing!!! I'm buying it the day it comes out. I agree that Gerard Butler's voice was not quite strong enough, but he portrayed the part so amazingly I got over it. I thought Emmy Rossum was incredible! Give these people some credit!! THey might not be able to pull it off on stage, but I think the movie was very well cast. AND Emmy Rossum was only 16 when they filmed it.. that makes her all the more amazing to me. Minnie Driver was HILARIOUS, loved. her. overall, I thought the movie was great. THeres very little I would change.
#20

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 2:12am

If I had directed "The Phantom of the Opera"...


I would die a happy woman.
"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being." --Phylicia Rashad
#21

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 6:57am

I would have changed 3 things:

I would have cut all those black&white flashbacks in the middle of the film, they slowed it down and were totally unnecessary.

Also, I would have cut the 'Young Mme Giry Saves The Phantom From The Circus' scene and simply done the Phantom's background stroy the way it is on stage.

And mostly, I would have had Miranda Richardson (Mme Giry) speaking without the ridiculous French accent!!

#22

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 11:36am

Yesterday I saw Phantom and actually really really enjoyed it. I loved how it had all the music from the play plus they can do things in movies that they cannot do in the theatre. It was very colourful (except the play Don Juan..which was great as a contrast). I was also impressed with the cast.

My one main comment is that I don't think that the phantom character was cast right. For one thing, he was too young. Also, I felt that he was too good looking (at least when he had the mask on). His voice was ok sometimes, but had too much of an accent or something at other times. As a good note though..he was prety good at showing emotion from love/admiration to anger.
#23

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:40pm

I agree with the part where Madame Giry is telling Raoul how she saved Erik, etc, etc. It was just a waste of time and ruins the original novel and Susan Kay's novel. Both books claimed that Erik/the Phantom had helped build the Opera House.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky. With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, when they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway, and he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat... (The Highwayman. Sung by: Loreena McKennitt)
#24

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 12:50pm

And mostly, I would have had Miranda Richardson (Mme Giry) speaking without the ridiculous French accent!!

I haven't seen the film, but reading that makes me assume that Madame Giry speaks like that guard from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. "I'm French! Why do you think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king?"
#25

re: If you had directed 'The Phantom of the Opera'

Posted: 1/2/05 at 1:12pm

The only thing I would have done differently would be: Get a stronger Christine. Emmy has a very nice voice, but... You know what I mean. I don't understand how she got a Golden Globe nod. Anyways, the more I see the film, the more I admire Gerard Butler's performance.

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