'Phantom' to hit theaters with 'young, sexy' look - usatoday.com

[Rob]

Posted: 12/15/03 at 9:15am

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=15973

First pic of Phantom + Christine...

[ktswaz]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 2:57am

This really ticks me off!! I mean POTO has been doing wonderfully for 18 years without needing to be 'young and sexy'. It's in the top ten constantly and both sides of the Alantic. You know there's an old saying "If it's not broke don't fix it!". I think it applies!

[Al Dente]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 12:16pm

How "young and sexy" could the cast be with Patrick Wilson in it? He looks about as young and sexy as any balding 45 year old accountant does. Sorry DP but this guy so utterly revolted me in AIA, that I can't imagine how he's getting any movie roles at all, let alone in heartthrob-ish roles.

[MillietheModern]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 2:43pm

really? young and sexy? well I think that then it wont be as good as the musical obviously. but I doubt that no matter how young or sexy it is I won't be able to drag my friends to see it!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 3:07pm

ktswaz,
stop bitching..... looking at someone on a stage from 25 feet away and looking at a person's 45 foot tall head are two TOTALLY different things.. you know how it is when you see someone across a rom and they look cute, so you walk over to them and once you get up close you want to put a bag over their head?? AND they are TOTALLY different media.. you can NOT apply the principals of the stage version to the movie.. if you did, it would NOT work..

[Sunfish]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 3:08pm

What strikes me as peculiar is that Wilson and Butler are essentially the same age. Raoul is "supposed" to be a childhood friend of Christine's, since she's only 16...maybe playing 18.. When and how did they get to be such good friends?

Obviously, the whole back-story can and obviously is being changed, but one can still be annoyed by it. :) Updated On: 12/20/03 at 03:08 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 3:10pm

Oh shut up.. it is called an ADAPTION for a reason.. if you wanta film of teh stage version, buy a video camera and make yourself a bootleg.

[Sunfish]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 3:19pm

Then there is nothing to talk about :)

I agree, it is likely to be a totally different show. I was just commenting on the differences. Perhaps some of the "sexy" part comes from Raoul being a dirty old man....35 to her teenage-whatever.....

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 3:22pm

dirty oLD MAN?? That would not have been uncommon in that period

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 8:11pm

Well, OF COURSE it is going to have a 'young, sexy look." It is a HOLLYWOOD MOVIE, and a HOLLYWOOD MOVIE directed by that talentless hack Joel Schumacher at that! What do you expect? That they hire ugly, unsexy people? The film will be as ridiculous and ornate as Schumacher's other atrocities, his risible contributions to the Batman series which effectively brought to a halt.

[ktswaz]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 8:49pm

You know what? I'll 'bitch' if I want to. You know, if I could legally bootleg I would be the first to do. Yeah well, since when does a 55 year old deformed genius have to be sexy? I highly doubt Erik Dressler was hot! I know it's a different media. Since one's about art and the ability to act, the other is about looks. What is so wrong with the stage version. Trevor Nunn did a very good job of preserving his beautiful production of Oklahoma! in 1999. And yes, he used a studio to film it at. So yes, it can be done!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 9:24pm

some phantom phans need to take pills..... give ita rest.. quit acting so bitter that they "tampered" with your beloved musical. You sit here and bitch about the age of the phantom and yet you have NO idea how it plays in the film.. give it up and stop whining

[MusicMan]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 10:53pm

What do you expect? Thanks to the media and Madison Avenue, the focus of American culture is right at crotch level. Why care about character as long as one is "hot?" This is exactly why brain-dead bimbos like Paris Hilton make headlines. But take heart: it's slowly changing. Witness the backlash and subsequent tanking of the latest Abercrombie & Fitch Christmas catalogue due to its highly inappropriate and misguided advertising.(You can read about the debacle in the Wall Street Journal). Hooray!!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/20/03 at 10:59pm

It was only highly inappropriate to uptight and pretentious prudes and you had to be 18 to purchase the thing anyways..

whatever.. moving on.

[ktswaz]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 12:14am

Or maybe the reason is it's people like you and not us 'uptight and pretentious prudes' that our country and world are in the dumpster. The definition of art to broaden to fit trash. So I bet you've never been a 'true' fan of anything. I'm not suppose to have an opinion about something I love. You stop whining because my opinion differs with you.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 12:18am

OMFG! ROTFLMFAO! If we listened to prudes, we'd still be living liek th puritans thank you very much. LOL. How can teh definition of art be broadened at all when art has always been all encompassing?? huh??

**removes thorny stick from ktswaz's backside**

[ktswaz]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 12:29am

It's like what my Dad always says "Don't let your mind be so open that your brain falls out!"

[Al Dente]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:08am

I'd like to hear more about the A&F backlash, MusicMan. Again, the term "young and good-looking" does NOT apply to Patrick Wilson.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:11am

"The definition of art to broaden to fit trash."

huh?

[Broadwaylilhead]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 6:18pm

well at least now people cant complain about the stars lip singing the title track like they do in the show since the entire movie will be lip snyced!

i wonder if all the songs from the stage version will be in the movie?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 6:32pm

First off, I don't think people should jump all over ktswaz if ktswaz was hoping that the Phantom film would be as old and unsexy as the stage shows that ktswaz and many people on both sides of the Atlantic seem to adore. They know what they like, and the powers that be pretty much ought to give it to them.

As for MusicMan's tsk tsking of the A+F catalogue, this controversy is covered in great detail in the Coffee Talk/Daily Journal Dec. 5, 2003 entry on the website of my absolute favorite born again Christian, right wing, homeschooling ex-sitcom star, Lisa Welchel (TV's Blair).

[The best thing is that the more MM reveals about his sensibilites, the more we understand.]
Link to TV's Blair's Homepage

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:05pm

Also, no one here has invested a dime in this project and I don't see any "director/ composer" credits in any profiles here. So, why won't some people just stop judging and predicting the future about this puppy. Save your omens.

I doubt that Schumacher and ALW are spending a fortune to produce a disaster film. Neither are stupid men. I would imagine they have some bright marketing people urging them to appeal to a younger audience, thus the reason the casting is appealingly younger, if they're smart, which I think they are.

Futhermore why should either of these creators care if it follows line by line, note by note, exact scene by scene as the stage production or the book...it's THEIR project!

It will never please everyone. Many will compare it to everything they think it should be, that's a given. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

If it's a half decent to good piece of work, I'm sure people will buy it up to add to their musical collection. Just let them film the bloody thing before you crucify it!

Updated On: 12/21/03 at 10:05 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:08pm

amen.......