The cast for Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA begins to narrow down...

Hey folks, Harry here... After a seeming eternity of development hell it seems that absolutely none of the casting thoughts that we've previously heard associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber's cinematic telling of his wildly popular PHANTOM OF THE OPERA will come true. That's right... no Broadway cast... no Big Hollywood cast... Instead, according to Zorianna Kit and The Hollywood Reporter it seems that Joel Schumacher is going to do what he does best when he makes his better movies... That's right, go with unknowns or "on the cusp" actors.

It seems the role of the Phantom has been offered to Gerard Butler, that guy that played the count in DRACULA 2000. Now, I kinda liked him in that awful film, I just hated the script and some of the truly shitty effects and the music... God I hated the music. Anyway, he's dealt with mummies, he's in the upcoming TOMB RAIDER and Richard Donner has recently shot with him in TIMELINE. SO... it seems he's definitely an on-the-cusp style actor, and as you can see with that picture above... you get Rick Baker to scar the hell out of that face... naturally please Joel. No hot pink face scars like on Tommy Lee Jones... ok? Cool. Then the only real question left is... can he sing? Belt out a tune? I mean, that's the real question, and I'm sure that Andrew is all over making sure his music isn't garbled... ya think? Meanwhile on Christine, the choice is currently between two young ladies...

First is Anne Hathaway. She's quite lovely and quite the beaut. I wasn't a fan of THE PRINCESS DIARIES, but she was quite good in NICHOLAS NIKLEBY, which too few people saw. But personally she's just too wholesome and AMERICAN looking for Christine to me. Visually, I prefer the other choice of Schumacher's...

Yes, this Emmy Rossum. Roland Emmerich has cast her alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW which hits next year and I'd love to know much more about! Script would be nice! But anyway, Emmy has that fragility look, and she also looks like she could play the type that the Phantom would need to push into the limelight... the one that only the haunt of the house could find and hear and see the true beauty of. IF they can both sing equally, I'd go with Emmy, I have only seen her perform once, and that was as a young Audrey Hepburn... she was quite good, and well... she reminds me of a young Audrey Hepburn... fragile, quirkily beautiful and with an amount of grace. ANYWAY, let's see what Joel ends up doing, I like that he's going the unknown route...