The Phantom as we know it … until now.
Photo: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Put both hands at eye level: there is a new phantom preparing to pursue your dreams. According to Deadline, Scooter Braun’s SB Projects is reportedly working with Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten and his firm Muse of Fire Productions on a London-based “music-filled contemporary psychological thriller” called Phantom, based on the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux is based on Le Fantome de L’Opera, which of course inspired a little-known musical by Anthony Lloyd Webber and returned to Broadway this fall. And if you’re wondering if Scooter Braun’s commitment means the new Phantom is delivering creepy, sexy hits from its many great clients including Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato, the answer is, it would be better! Why else are we doing this?
“You know everyone on the list; They are multi-Grammy winners, ”McCarten told the outlet when asked about the musicians who might be included in the score. “We want to do something groundbreaking with music and score and something that will be new to you. We will reinvent this story for a new generation free from the traps of Gothic romanticism. Our phantom doesn’t offer singing lessons to anyone, and there is no masked gondolier. “
If you are concerned that the Phantom of the Opera without a mask and gondola is just the story of a dangerous stalker then this is exactly what you want. According to Deadline, the new adaptation is intended to “turn the romance associated with previous interpretations on its head and instead rely on the tension and horror that made up a large part of the book.”
“It’s a bit like taking an old piece of furniture and peeling off the layers of paint and going back to the original grain,” continued Carten. “It’s back to the much more frightening roots of horror tension that were in the book. With this version of the story, we want to look more psychologically at the questions of what can and cannot be real and who and what we can be. “As long as there’s a masquerade ball, a deadly chandelier, and enough candelabra to shame Yankee Candle, we’ll likely see the movie. Just kidding, of course we’ll see. We didn’t buy a ticket for Cats just to miss the opportunity to see the Phantom channeling Ari and the Biebs in a crowded theater.
