Hollywood
John Legend wants to bring “The Phantom of the Opera” to the cinema again
US singer John Legend at the world premiere of “Space Jam: A New Legacy” in Los Angeles. Photo: Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP / dpa
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John Legend makes the cinema: The US singer wants to produce the murderous “Phantom of the Opera” penned by Gaston Leroux. Instead of 1911, the story is supposed to take place in what is now New Orleans.
US musician John Legend (42) wants to bring the often filmed horror novel “The Phantom of the Opera” to the screen with the Hollywood studio Universal Pictures.
Oscar winner Legend (“Glory”) is on board with his company as a producer, as the industry papers “Hollywood Reporter” and “Deadline.com” reported on Friday. Screenwriter John Fusco (“The Highwaymen”, “Young Guns”) sets the “Phantom” story in the modern era in the southern US metropolis of New Orleans.
The model is based on the famous novel by the French Gaston Leroux from 1911 about a disfigured musical genius who lives in the catacombs of the Paris Opera around 1870 and falls in love with a young singer. The murderous phantom hides his face behind a mask.
The Briton Andrew Lloyd Webber had huge success in 1986 with a musical version. More than 80 million people worldwide saw the stage performance. In 2004, “Batman” director Joel Schumacher brought the main actors Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum in front of the camera for a cinema version.