Saturday, 8 March 2008
ever watched the phantom of the opera? it's a really nice musical movie, i mean, with an all star cast like emmy rossum, gerard butler, patrick wilson, minnie driver and miranda richardson, it's a really must watch for all.
the movie starts out with christine(rossum) with a group of little ballet dancers preparing for the opera " la carlotta". the reigning queen of the opera house, carlotta giudicelli(driver), who was supposed to sing " think of me". however, mishaps happen and she stormed out of the opera house. monsieur andre and firmin, the new bosses of the opera house was at a loss on what to do. now that their one and only opera singer had gone, there was no way that they could host the opera, but then madame giry(richardson), the ballet teacher, told the bosses that christine has the talent of singing. the monsieurs were surprised and decided to hear her sing. after singing think of me, she was cast as la carlotta in carlotta's place. her childhood sweetheart vicomte de chagny or known to her as raoul became the chairman of the theatre, and went to watch the opera. on that night christine sang, he was amazed and old feelings came back to him. then, as the opera finished and as christine went back to her dressing room, her voice coach, the movie's protagonist, the phantom(butler) came into the room from a passageway hidden in her mirror and led her to his underground home. this is when the theme song: the phantom of the opera begins. then, as roaul went to her room and found her missing, he went to search for her. on the other hand, the phantom had sent discriminating letters to monsieur firmin and andre. both of them had the same content. they said that the theatre should overthrow carlotta and this is where carlotta came in. after a twist of events, in the opera "poor fool, he makes me laugh", carlotta was once again cast as the main soprano and christine as a silent boy servant. then, this is where the phantom hung the stagehand, buquet was hung by the phantom...and then came my favourite part...the balcony scene, where christine and raoul sang " all i ask of you". then, as they embraced, the phantom saw it and crushed the rose he gave to christine and swore to take revenge. then came the "past the point of no return" where the phantom murdered one of the characters, in order to put himself into the role. as they were about to finish the song, christine swiped off his mask and saw his true face. it was distorted with burns and scars, and most of all, with hatred. he loved christine more than anything and was jealous of raoul. this is where the famous chandelier scene takes place. the phantom took out a knife and cut off the ropes holding the chandelier, causing it to drop onto the audience. then the phantom dragged christine to his underground chamber and forced her to marry him. this is where the three of them, raoul, christine and the phantom collaborated for the song: down once more". then, the phantom sensed christine's undying love for raoul and let the two of them leave together. the movie ends when 40 years later, after christine's death, raoul went to her grave to give her a memento, the monkey which he had auctioned for at the start of the movie. over there, he saw the ring, tied to a rose....which the phsntom had used to propose to christine 40 years ago, in that underground chamber.
[edit] Casting the Film
The casting for the two leading roles was a rather lengthy process. Patrick Wilson, who later got the part of Raoul, had initially auditioned for the title role of The Phantom. The director later felt he was better to play Raoul because his voice matched the character better.[1] Several actors were considered to play the title role including John Travolta and Antonio Banderas. Originally offered the role, Travolta turned it down because he felt the film wouldn't work, while Banderas, a skilled singer, took several months off from acting to train for the part, before he was turned down. Hugh Jackman was up for the role, but he lost the role at the last minute after the director heard him singing. He felt that he looked right for the part, but something about his voice wasn't good enough.[2] Gerard Butler finally won the role after several intense screen tests. Casting for the role of Christine Daae took longer. Charlotte Church, Keira Knightley, and Katie Holmes were all in the running. Holmes had secured the part but the director refused to cast her because he felt that she was too old for the part; she reportedly impressed him with her voice.[3] Anne Hathaway was a soprano singer in New York, and she was praised for her voice; she auditioned several times and almost got the part, but just as the contract was sent to her, she was forced to decline because of the overlapping schedules with the Princess Diaries sequel, although she tried to make it work. Emmy Rossum won the part.
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