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The Novel
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24-25 The feature film version presented the opportunity to revisit the original recordings and, with a healthy budget to work with, Andrew Lloyd Webber realised that he could afford to produce a full orchestral version of this much loved score. The film also presented the opportunity to write a completely new song, and also several major sections of underscore to match the new screenplay. This was familiar, if slightly distant territory, having written the scores for several films earlier on in his career, including The Odessa File and Gumshoe. In order to help realise this musical vision for the film, Lloyd Webber turned to his trusted team. Nigel Wright, the film’s music co-producer has worked with Lloyd Webber for over fifteen years, producing cast albums, video soundtracks but perhaps most pertinently the soundtrack to the 1996 film Evita. But as Nigel explains, “Phantom’s the one we’ve all been waiting years to do … this is the big one!” The involvement of Music Spervisor, Simon Lee, began very early. The casting process necessitates the need to work with many actors even before they see the director – Lloyd Webber was adamant that the cast had to be able to sing their own roles to a first class standard. Lee, therefore, began the lengthy audition and rehearsal process in February 2003, seven months before shooting began. Lee worked with all the principal actors, ensuring that their singing ability matched up to the high standard required. He sees his involvement at every stage as fundamental to maximising the abilities of the cast, in particular the Phantom, Gerard Butler, - “Gerry was not a stage-trained singer, but sang in a band. He has been a total revelation in the last year we’ve been working, and I’m very proud of his achievement.” Shooting any musical movie has particular challenges. As Nigel Wright explains, “On every other musical movie I’ve made, you rehearse, then pre-record the whole soundtrack and shoot from there. What we did with Phantom was stay just one step ahead of the shooting schedule, so that the playback tracks could accommodate performances that were growing and developing during rehearsal. With construction of the huge sets running only a few weeks ahead of filming, there were times when the cast were only able to rehearse on set the week before shooting that sequence.” This recording and re-recording process was continuous – a recording studio was even set up in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s office at Pinewood, whereby actors could, at any time, be whisked away to record a new vocal and the playback track be altered for the next scene. It was a totally organic process for the actors and the music team alike – but this didn’t come without its difficulties. “When we started, we were three weeks ahead of schedule – by the end, we were three hours ahead of what was being shot! It would be six in the morning and we would be pre-mixing something that was going to be shot at nine!” says Wright. The film was shot with the use of these temporary playback tracks, usually consisting of a 28-piece orchestra, but on the occasions where Lloyd Webber felt it necessary for the emotional drama of the piece, a full symphony line-up was used. The completion of the director’s first cut enabled Lloyd Webber and his team to assess which elements of the score would be re-orchestrated and re-recorded, and identified the need for new underscore. Working with his original collaborator, David Cullen, Lloyd Webber re-orchestrated large parts of the score, and wrote more than 15 minutes of new music, including a fairground sequence depicting the Phantom’s childhood, and a sequence for Christine’s coach ride to her father’s grave. A completely new song is introduced in the end credits of the film. A hand-picked orchestra was assembled in London, many of whom were familiar with the score, having worked on stage productions or album recordings of Lloyd Webber’s work. Simon Lee conducted this orchestra at the famous Abbey Road Studios – “The result is a truly sumptuous sound, exactly as Andrew had envisaged it.” |
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