MICHAEL JACKSON - LLOYD WEBBER: 'JACKSON WANTED TO PLAY PHANTOM IN MOVIE'

LLOYD WEBBER: 'JACKSON WANTED TO PLAY PHANTOM IN MOVIE'

MICHAEL JACKSON wanted to play the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in a big screen adaptation of the hit musical, according to theatre impresario SIR ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER.
Jackson, who died following a cardiac arrest on Thursday (25Jun09), was left so impressed with the Broadway production he watched it several times and would often go backstage to visit the cast.
The King of Pop held numerous discussions with Lloyd Webber shortly after the story debuted on stage in 1988 about wanting to star as The Phantom in a movie.
But Lloyd Webber never gave Jackson the role because he wasn't ready to turn it into a film - he later cast Gerard Butler in 2004's The Phantom of the Opera.
He says, "The story got to him. I think he had a connection with the lonely, tortured musician. He found the idea of somebody working through music and having a girl as a muse very intriguing - and he loved that there was illusion in the show.
"Michael became interested in playing The Phantom himself, in a movie version of the show. We talked about it a lot, but we'd only just opened and, at the time, I felt that it was too early for it to become a film. I felt his interest in Phantom was because he was interested in doing something theatrical himself."