Gerard who? It's Gerard Butler. The relatively unknown actor who won the right to don that eerie white half-mask by beating out the likes of Antonio Banderas, Hugh Jackman and the original Phantom of the Opera, Michael Crawford, understands if you do not know who he...
PRESS ARCHIVES
Year: 2004
Finally, the Phantom
When Joel Schumacher was first offered the chance to direct a film version of "The Phantom of the Opera," he instinctively jumped at the opportunity. It was 1988, and Schumacher was a near-novice director with just four films - among them "The Incredible Shrinking...
Rocking the opera
FILM THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Opens in Australia on Boxing Day THE man behind the man behind the most famous mask in showbusiness is seeking an Australian bride. "The woman I settle down with will no doubt be Australian," says Gerard Butler, the Scottish-born actor...
BEHIND THE PHANTOM
'I was absolutely scared," says Joel Schumacher, talking about his decision to do the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera: "This was my first musical and my first real period piece. And it wasn't like I was going to get away with doing this movie and no one...
PHANTOM POPS IN TO SCARE HIS FAN CLUB
IMAGINE the joy on the faces of members of the Gerard Butler fan club the other day in New York. There they were meeting up in a pub for a chat about the star and who pops in out the blue but The Phantom of the Opera himself. Apparently Butler had heard about the...
Wicked Whispers – Some winters I got frostbite.
'We could have relied on the welfare system, but my father had too much pride. So a lot of times we suffered.' SCOTTISH actor and Phantom Of The Opera star Gerard Butler cites a bizarre reason for his landing the plum lead role in the movie. Says Butler:'Celtic were...
Gerard Butler: The Man Behind the “Phantom” Mask
Fashion Wire Daily December 21, 2004 - LOS ANGELES - As the wildly anticipated movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" rolls into theaters on Wednesday, December 22, many fans of the musical are asking the same question: Just who exactly is...
Interview : Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler has much to be thankful for, "Dracula 2000" for one. Dashing, witty and masculine, Butler seems the perfect phantom in the screen version of "Phantom of the Opera". Also to be seen in "Dear Frankie" and "Beowulf", Gerard Butler is a star on the rise, but...
Interview with Sturla Gunnarson
An age old Anglo-Saxon tale that emerges from Old Norse in the Dark ages. A creature of pure evil. A King Scorned and broken. A man possessing the Strength of 30 and who knows no bounds. A legend destined for fame! Stellan Skarsgård, Gerard Butler, Ingvar Sigurdsson,...
60 Second Interview with Gerard Butler
Did you originally train as a lawyer? I did. I studied law at Glasgow University and was even president of the law society. Then I trained with a fantastic law firm in Edinburgh, when it all went horribly wrong. So was it you that forced me to sign a non-syndication...
Butler: Actor and Phantom of the Opera
The name Gerard Butler got a mention in the Reign of Fire, Dracula 2001 and Tomb Raider credits, but many Indonesians have acquired the habit of tuning out after the big shots are listed. The actor may yet win household recognition, however, with his portrayal of the...
Phantom looks for Aussie wife
LOS ANGELES, AAP Gerry Butler, one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, wants an Aussie wife. He's not fussy. But the woman needs to be Australian. "The woman I settle down with will no doubt be Australian," Butler, the Scottish born actor tipped to be the next...
Gerard Butler, the man in the mask
Scottish actor Gerard Butler had to perform the most important film role of his career wearing a mask. That didn't make the acting any easier: Butler has the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," and the phantom...
Mastering the mask
The Phantom's trademark mask was just one more problem for Gerard Butler to overcome. NEW YORK -- Before he could become the opera ghost in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera, Gerard Butler had to overcome two enormous obstacles. First he had to find the...
Lead role in `Opera’ is high note for Butler
For a phantom, Gerard Butler seems positively jolly. The 35-year-old Scot won one of the year's plum parts when he persuaded Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber that he was the man to slip on the mask in the long-awaited screen version of Webber's stage success,...
The Voice and Face of the PHANTOM
Gerard Butler seethes, sighs and sings quite convincingly as the Phantom in Joel Schumacher’s big-screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s venerable stage musical of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (opening December 22 from Warner Bros.)—but heading into the project, the...
Unmasked – Phantom of the Opera star Gerard Butler reveals his highly eclectic approach to personal style
Gerard Butler's next task is to stock his closet in his New York City apartment. Although he has Helmut Lang, Prada and Nicole Farhi in mind, the actor may have to wait a few more weeks to begin filling the drawers in his new real estate purchase. "I can't wait to...
Butler Haunted by Phantom’s Sad, Sexy Singer
NEW YORK--Two years ago, Gerard Butler assumed he was doing well for himself--but things were about to get a lot better. The Scottish actor had taken small roles in films like Timeline and was up for the male lead in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. He had...
Sideways reasoning for nods
2005 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS Leonardo DiCaprio is flying high and Clint Eastwood came out slugging, but it looks as if Alexander Payne’s Sideways is this year’s Lost in Translation. In announcing their contenders for the 2005 Golden Globes, the 90-odd members of the...
A Phantom rises from Gerard Butler’s past, says Pauline McLeod
Gerard Butler draws heavily on a cigarette as he outlines, with a keen sense of graphic detail, how the prosthetics boys transformed his open, smiling face into the anguished, grotesque visage that is the Phantom of the Opera. It took five hours to morph him into the...
Good Morning America Transcript
Diane: (giggles), OK I was just trying to make a gesture and slapped myself so hard I practically knocked myself out here, anyway… (Gerard giggles in background) 65,000 performances in 18 countries, 80 million people, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s phenomenon “the Phantom of...
Interview with Gerard Butler
When it was first suggested that Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" would make the transition from stage to screen, several names were bounced around over the years: from the musical's original performer, Michael Crawford, to the likes of John Travolta and...
GERARD BUTLER IS THE SEXIEST STAR ON THE WEB
THE SCOTTISH ACTOR WILL BE ON CAPRI ON DECEMBER 30 FOR THE GRAND GALA IN HONOR OF "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA," THE UPCOMING OSCAR CONTENDER. Capri (NA), December 9 - Actor Gerard Butler is named the 'Sexiest Man on the Internet.' At 34 years old, he is to be seen in...
Film Alters Beowulf Subtext
Gerard Butler, star of the upcoming medieval adventure movie Beowulf & Grendel, told SCI FI Wire that the film puts an intriguing spin on the epic poem that is its source. "[Beowulf] turns up as the hero to take on this troll [Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson as Grendel],...
WB Official Phantom Gerard Q&A
Fans on the official message board were asked to submit questions on the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera to Gerard Butler, who stars as The Phantom. Below are his answers, recorded on November 16, 2004 on a balcony at the Four Seasons Hotel in...