The screenplay follows the storyline of the book inasmuch as the disfigured Phantom, who lives secretly in the underground cavern beneath the building, falls in love with Christine and helps her to be discovered by undermining her rival Carlotta, who is having an affair with the Nazi Commandant and is a collaborator with the occupation and therefore more of an out and out villain. So what story would Phantom have told, and would the change in setting have significantly altered the events of the beloved novel and its many adaptations? Dearden divulges that the story was set “in the Paris Opera House, as per the novel. He was a very enthusiastic collaborator and liked what I was doing, so it was a harmonious relationship!” “We worked closely, albeit not cheek by jowl.
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“I was certainly free to introduce new elements, set pieces, but I saw no reason to lose the basic plot and characters, even if they had to be reinvented as Germans in some cases.”ĭearden goes on to describe his working relationship with Petersen, the celebrated filmmaker had brought him aboard the film. “ I started from the given that it would follow the original story, albeit transferred to WWII Nazi-occupied France,” Dearden continues, discussing whether or not he was given any mandates as to how closely the project should hew to the events of the original novel.
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Michael Crawford as the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical
The late Potter, known for Pennies from Heaven and Brimstone and Treacle, was the one “who decided on the Nazi-occupied Paris setting, and I assume it was his original idea.” “I came on board at the request of Wolfgang Petersen after a script had already been written by Dennis Potter,” he reveals. However, Dearden notes that it was another writer who had originated the project before his participation was secured. Though scant information on Phantom seems to have survived outside of a few notices in the entertainment trades of the time, what is known is that the film was to have been helmed by Wolfgang Petersen ( The NeverEnding Story, Enemy Mine), was to have starred Dustin Hoffman ( Tootsie, Rain Man), and would boast a screenplay written by Dearden ( Fatal Attraction, A Kiss Before Dying). Dearden, who provides some insight into the project’s development, the story it would have told, and why it sadly never came to be. Written by Fatal Attraction scribe James Dearden and rumored to have starred Dustin Hoffman in the title role, the Warner Brothers production ultimately went unmade after its initial development in the late 80s, even for all the popularity the tale was enjoying at the time due to the enormous success of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical.
With this installment, we’ll be paying a brief visit to the Paris Opera House to uncover Phantom, Das Boot director Wolfgang Petersen’s updating of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Here, we will be chatting with the creators of these unmade extremities to gain their unique insight into these follow-ups that never were, with the discussions standing as hopefully illuminating but undoubtedly painful reminders of what might have been. Welcome to Phantom Limbs, a recurring feature which will take a look at intended yet unproduced horror sequels and remakes – extensions to genre films we love, appendages to horror franchises that we adore – that were sadly lopped off before making it beyond the planning stages. an often painful sensation of the presence of a limb that has been amputated.
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