IGN Filmforce talked to director Joel Schumacher about his new version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, to star Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Alan Cumming and Ciarán Hinds. Schumacher says shooting starts in October with Lloyd Webber financing the project himself.

IGNFF: Considering how long The Phantom has been out there as a project in development, has the success of Chicago in any way propelled this project? Is that in part a reason why it's being done now?

SCHUMACHER: I'd like to say yes, but no. Because Andrew [Lloyd Weber] was negotiating for the last two years to get the rights back from Warners, so it just happened at the end of November, beginning of December, long before Chicago came out. Andrew had decided to finance it himself and Warners to distribute it. That was in the works long before Moulin Rouge. And also, the show has been a hit for sixteen years, and it's still running.

IGNFF: Does he have a specific idea for what he wants on the screen?

SCHUMACHER: No.

IGNFF: As far as the story, would he like to see any changes?

SCHUMACHER: He's left that up to me. He's not really a film person. He's really a theater person. He doesn't claim to be a film guy.

IGNFF: There would be changes to the orchestrations, that kind of thing of course.

SCHUMACHER: Oh, yes. The music will be re-invented for this film. Remember, these orchestrations were done sixteen years ago.

IGNFF: Come to think of it, would anyone be in a position to disagree with Andrew Lloyd Weber? (Laughing.) I mean, if you disagreed with him creatively, do you think you'd have to go toe-to-toe with him?

SCHUMACHER: (He laughs.) We've been friend for so long. Remember, he asked me to do this thirteen years ago. So we've been friends for a while. We're collaborators. We don't argue about these things.