Gerard Butler ('Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life') plays the man in the mask with a rock star-like swagger and cape-swirling flourishes. She was 16 years old, and had trained at the Metropolitan Opera when she was 7.'

Schumacher said in a recent telephone interview. As much as anything else, the film is a launching pad for its 18-year-old star, Emmy Rossum ('Songcatcher,' 'Mystic River,' 'The Day After Tomorrow'), this month's cover girl on several fashion magazines. He has ratcheted up the romance, sex and schmaltz of the original 'Phantom' a number of notches by adding a nubile cast, larger-than-life sets and a vertiginously swooping camera. Schumacher, who has a flair for fabulous window dressing and finding pretty young talent, has cannily upped the ante. The fact that Bloomingdale's has turned its Lexington Avenue Christmas windows into eight 'Phantom' tableaus is spot on: the 'Phantom' franchise is, above all, about mass commercial appeal. Schumacher are unabashed about pushing the popular cultural envelope past the point of no return (to borrow the title of one well-known 'Phantom' tune), producing work that critics loyally love to hate (so far the reviews for this film have ranged from vicious to mixed) and the public just as loyally loves to love. In the film, the Paris Opera house has become the 'Opéra Populaire,' which is the perfect label for Lord Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom' in both its stage and celluloid incarnations. Schumacher, whose films have ranged from the much-reviled 'Batman and Robin' and 'Batman Forever' to well-rendered Grisham adaptations ('The Client,' 'A Time to Kill'), has made every effort to ensure that the 'Phantom' phenomenon's uber-kitsch remains shamelessly intact. (Of course the phans have their own agenda, and while some are enthusiastic about the new-fangled 'Phantom,' other purists are still outraged that Michael Crawford, the star of the original Broadway production and now 62, does not play the lead.)Įverything about the Broadway musical, which has run since 1988 (second only to 'Cats'), has literally set the standard for over-the-top. (Actually eight separate stages at the famous Pinewood Studios, outside London.)ĭepending on one's Lloyd Webber tolerance level, and there are legions of diehard 'phans,' the lavish-looking movie will either feel like a gaudily wrapped Christmas present or evince Grinch-like disdain. If Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical 'Phantom of the Opera' is a chestnut, Joel Schumacher's new film is a chestnut flamboyantly roasting on a backlot fire.

Phantom of the opera 2004 unmasked