Trivia for
The Phantom of the Opera (2004) More at IMDbPro »

• Both Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson hated filming the water scenes.
  
  
• The sweeping camera angles during "All I Ask of You" made it necessary to shoot multiple takes of the kiss between Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson. Emmy Rossum had to ice her lips between takes to prevent them from swelling.
  
  
• Even though in the Andrew Lloyd Webber version the Phantom doesn't have a name, in the original book he's called Erik.
  
  
• All of the principal actors sang in the film except for Minnie Driver. Most of the actors have a background in musicals or opera, but Minnie Driver (a skilled singer) had no experience in opera and was dubbed by Margaret Preece, a singing teacher from Solihull, UK. Driver does however contribute the film's end title song, "Learn To Be Lonely," written specifically for the film by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  
  
• The project was ready to begin filming in 1990 and was set to star Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman (the original stars of the stage version). Just before filming began, Andrew Lloyd Webber divorced Brightman and the project was put on hold.
  
  
• Shekhar Kapur was set to direct at one point.
  
  
• John Travolta and Antonio Banderas were both considered for the role of the Phantom. Banderas actually spent several years in vocal preparation, and sang the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration (1998) (TV).
  
  
• Keira Knightley auditioned for the role of Christine Daaé.
  
  
• Charlotte Church and Anne Hathaway were considered for the role of Christine Daaé.
  
  
• While others have been mentioned through the years, Joel Schumacher was Andrew Lloyd Webber's choice for director since the movie project was conceived in the early '90s.
  
  
• It took four hours for Gerard Butler to be fitted with full makeup and prosthetics.
  
  
• Filming of the final lair scene took a week to complete.
  
  
• The character Raoul wears a cross under his clothing which can be seen during the fight scene in the cemetery and in the final lair scene.
  
  
• During the Final Lair scene, after the Phantom says "You try my patience, make your choice," Christine mouths the words "I love you" to Raoul.
  
  
• In the original stage production the chandelier is dropped at the end of the first act (just after the reprise of "All I Ask of You"), but it was decided to have it at the end of the film. This change has been incorporated into the new Vegas production of the show.
  
  
• Katie Holmes was almost cast as Christine but the director said she was too old for the part.
  
  
• The movie was dubbed into Spanish by the actors and singers from the Madrid stage version. The main roles are played by Juan Carlos Barona (The Phantom), Julia Möeller (Christine), Paco Arrojo (Raoul), Yolanda Pérez Segoviano (Mme. Giry), Belén Marcos (Carlotta), Tony Cruz (Firmin), David Venancio Muro (André), Enrique Ferrer (Piangi) and Ana Esther Alborg (Meg Giry). The Spanish lyrics, however, are different from the Madrid version because of the need of lyrics that can be lip-synced with the screen actors.
  
  
• In April 2004 an audience of the stage version of "The Phantom of the Opera" in London were asked to stay behind at the end and record the sound effects for the movie. The sounds will be played during the chandelier crash.
  
  
• The same lead sculptors were used for the making of the film sets and for the original stage show in London.
  
  
• Neither Gerard Butler nor Emmy Rossum had seen the musical prior to receiving their roles.
  
  
• Joel Schumacher was chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber after he saw The Lost Boys (1987) and was impressed by Joel Schumacher's use of music.
  
  
• When the Phantom is taking Christine to his lair, he places her on a black horse for a while. This is not part of the show, but is a nod to the original book, where the Phantom uses a horse named Cesar to transport Christine part of the way.
  
  
• Andrew Lloyd Webber composed 15 minutes of new music for the film.
  
  
• In the beginning of the movie, the retiring owner, Lefevre, says that the only way to please Carlotta is, "Grovel, grovel". This is part of a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, another one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's shows.
  
  
• The chandelier weighed 2.2 tons, cost $1.3 million, and was provided by Swarovski. It had a stunt double for riskier scenes. There was also a third chandelier made, that was equipped with electricity and lighting for the opening scene.
  
  
• The music is played by a 105-piece orchestra.
  
  
• The Phantom speaks only fourteen of his lines and sings the rest.
  
  
• In Christine's debut performance as the star of the Opera House, she wears a costume that is an exact replica of the outfit Empress Elizabeth (aka "Sisi") of Austria wears in her most famous portrait. This includes the white diaphanous dress with full, billowing skirt, as well as the diamond star-bursts in her hair and earrings. This is not surprising when one considers the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most important collectors of artwork from this period, and would be familiar with the portrait in question.
  
  
• For the auditions, a set was built and the actors wore costume.
  
  
• Because the chandelier scene is at the end of the film, as opposed to ending the first act as it does in the play, one of the lines in the song "Masquerade" had to be altered so that instead of referring to a "new chandelier" they talk of "friends that are here".
  
  
• Patrick Wilson (Raoul) was the first to be signed, then Gerard Butler (The Phantom), then Emmy Rossum (Christine).
  
  
• The theatre fire was an actual fire. Joel Schumacher wanted realism, so they destroyed the theatre for the scene.
  
  
• The screenplay was written in the south of France in 1989 by Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  
  
• Emmy Rossum almost didn't get the part because her mother didn't want her to miss her family reunion. Luckily, director Joel Schumacher was able to convince her to leave early in order to sing for Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  
  
• The lit candelabras that rise from the water were not done with special effects or CGI lights: the special wicks ignited when they reached the air. This effect was done in one take and didn't work again after that.
  
  
• In the "Masquerade" scene, there is a pan up the stairs. When it reaches the top of the stairs, opera patrons dressed in cat masks strike the pose that the cats on the show "Cats" pose in any promotional material. "Cats" is also an Andrew Lloyd Webber show.
  
  
• At the end of the Masquerade scene, Raoul briefly enters a circular chamber full of mirrors. This is a reference to the original Phantom of the Opera novel, in which the Phantom used the mirrored chamber as a torture chamber to drive victims insane.
  
  
• Patrick Wilson did his own stunts.
  
  
• The instruction to "Keep your hand at the level of your eyes" is another reference from the book, in which the Phantom was adept at disposing of victims with the "Punjab lasso." Keeping one's hand at the level of one's eyes kept the Punjab lasso away from the victim's neck and was the only defense.
  
  
• The doll in the Phantom's lair that is supposed to resemble Emmy Rossum is not actually a wax mold. It is Emmy Rossum. The production produced a mask of her face to use on the mannequin but when they put in the fake eyes it didn't look like her. She suggested to stand in as the mannequin instead. This was done by her being made up like a doll with waxy makeup on, and her standing very, very still.
  
  
• In very early stages of production, Kevin Spacey was considered for the role of The Phantom.
  
  
• At the beginning of the movie, the cast is rehearsing for an opera called "Hannibal" and they are singing "Hannibal Comes!" This is not an actual opera; Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote this for the beginning and wanted to help the actors warm up to the part with a laugh, hence the silly make up and costumes.
  
  
• When the Phantom leads Christine to his lair for the first time they almost float through a corridor, where human arms hold chandeliers. This is a reference to La belle et la bête (1946).
  
  
• The Phantom's white half-mask prop that Gerard Butler wore for the film sold for £6,450 on eBay.
  
  
• Gerard Butler's first days of filming were five weeks into production, where he and Emmy Rossum did "Past the Point of No Return" which took three days to film.
  
  
• Andrew Lloyd Webber only insisted that the actors do their own singing, after Joel Schumacher requested that the cast would be relatively young.
  
  
• A former top-ranking soprano in New York, Anne Hathaway was reportedly the front-runner for the role of "Christine". However, due to scheduling conflicts with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), she couldn't take the role, which later went to newcomer Emmy Rossum.
  
  
• Gerard Butler was not the only actor to go through hours of prosthetics: for the look of an older Raoul, Patrick Wilson also went through hours of makeup to look much older than he was for the scenes with Raoul as an old man.
  
  
• The chandelier used was 17 feet high and 13.2 feet wide, and was hung with more than 20,000 full cut Swarovski crystal pendants. It was produced by Tisserant in Paris, and it took four months to construct and five days to assemble at the studio.
  
  
• La Carlotta's deep purple outfit is comprised of over twenty-seven meters of silk.
  
  
• The part where Raoul nearly drowns is also a nod to the original novel, where Erik (The Phantom) floods the torture chamber with water from the lake after Christine agrees to marry him.
  
  
• The "Why So Silent" scene is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death."
  
  
• The Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera' opened at the Majestic Theater on January 26, 1988 and has run for 8840 performances, making this production the longest running show on Broadway (April 2009). Phantom was nominated for ten 1988 Tony Awards, won seven Tony Awards (Best Musical, Best Actor (Michael Crawford), Best Actress (Judy Kaye), Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Direction of a Musical (Harold Prince).
  
  
• Michael Crawford won the 1988 Tony Award (New York City) for Actor in a Musical for "Phantom of the Opera" for the title role.
  
  
• Emmy Rossum (Christine Daae) is much younger than her male counterparts, both whom she kissed in the movie. At the time of shooting, Emmy was 16, Patrick Wilson (Rauol) was 30, and Gerard Butler (The Phantom) was 34.
  
  
• To add to his deformity, Gerard Butler had a string tied just below his eye to cause it to appear more deformed when pulled down. Cast members would often tug on it as a joke between takes.
  
  
• In an interview on The View, Minnie Driver (Carlotta) says that to master her diva-like Italian accent, she channeled an old neighbor she had when she lived in Venice as a child.
  
  
• In playing Christine's father in this movie, Ramin Karimloo becomes the first actor to have played all 3 of Christine's loves. Her father in the movie version, and both Raoul and the Phantom on the stage.
  
  
• Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical "Phantom of the Opera" was inspired by Ken Hill's 1976 musical version of the same name. Hill's version is credited as the first Phantom musical and was a success. Sarah Brightman, who later created the role of Christine in Webber's version, was famously asked to play the role of Christine in Hill's 1984 revival but turned down the offer. Webber, who was then married to Brightman, had actually seen Hill's show and asked Hill to collaborate Phantom on a larger scale for the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End; eventually Webber pursued the musical without Hill. Hill and Webber had previously worked together on a revival of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat".
  
  
• Meat Loaf was another actor considered for the role of the Phantom.
  
  

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