However when Phantom of the Opera arrived in cinemas 20 years in the past this month, it was acquired with a whimper and handled like an afterthought largely ignored by audiences and awards voters on the time. Conversely, Depraved’s reputation has by no means been larger than when it grossed $450 million (and counting) in its first few weeks and have become one of many attainable frontrunners for Finest Image this awards season. What are the variations between these movies which may clarify the change in notion and reception, and what would possibly it say in regards to the state of the film musical?
Emphasis on Casting
Maybe probably the most hanging distinction between what have been presupposed to be two landmark diversifications of Broadway favorites is how they approached their casting. On paper, it could appear that director Joel Schumacher—who captained Webber’s Phantom of the Opera to the display screen after greater than a decade of discussing the mission—took extra dangers. When Schumacher was caught in Webber’s orbit, POTO was nonetheless the most popular ticket on Broadway the place star Michael Crawford had simply received a Tony to accompany his Olivier for taking part in the self-described Angel of Music. Webber’s personal spouse on the time, Sarah Brightman, additionally originated the function of Christine in each London and New York.
But it was the top of Brightman and Webber’s marriage that induced Schumacher’s first stab at Phantom to be waylaid till the 2000s, and by the point the mission rolled again round, a selection was made to forged primarily unknown expertise. Emmy Rossum was solely 17 when forged within the function of Christine Daaé for the display screen, with just one main movie function on her resume as much as that second: as Sean Penn’s murdered daughter in Mystic River (2003). Nevertheless, she was additionally filming The Day After Tomorrow whereas auditioning. In the meantime Patrick Wilson was recognized on Broadway for taking part in Curly in a revival of Oklahoma! (the identical manufacturing that made Hugh Jackman a star on the West Finish, in actual fact), in addition to showing within the unique forged of The Full Monty. Neither although have been a family identify.
The most important and most necessary piece of casting, nonetheless, was that of comparatively obscure Scottish actor Gerard Butler within the title function of the Phantom. Bear in mind this was almost half a decade from 300’s launch, and the factor Butler was greatest recognized for on the time was enjoying a shirtless vampire in leather-based pants through Dracula 2000.
Intriguingly, director Jon M. Chu took nearly a diametrically opposed tact when tackling Depraved 20 years later. When it got here to his two main girls, the filmmaker, Common Photos, and Depraved maestro Stephen Schwartz both solely pursued or settled on main names within the fashionable world of social media customers who would already be attuned to Depraved’s theatrical and YA-adjacent roots. Suppose Cynthia Erivo, who received a Tony for large work in The Shade Purple, as Elphaba and Jonathan Bailey recent off Netflix’s steamy Bridgerton as Fiyero. However most clearly this is applicable to Ariana Grande, some of the common pop stars on this planet in 2024, as Glinda, the Good Witch whose apparel within the film musical veers straight into princess iconography.
At a look, one would possibly assume Schumacher took larger possibilities than Chu. And but, that’s true in additional methods than one. Whereas Phantom of the Opera didn’t function a starry forged, it’s ironic to know Webber’s first decisions for the roles of the Phantom and Christine have been future stars of the Les Misérables film, Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. And when these didn’t occur, he nonetheless went for a casting that may mirror Tom Hooper’s later, extremely divisive Les Mis movie: he picked a film actor who couldn’t deal with the musical materials he was given.