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I thought Gerry was alright. I got into POTO by watching the 2004 movie. He's not the best for a number of reasons.

1. He was cast for sex-appeal
I remember Schumacher saying that he wanted a 'young, sexy cast'. Since they didn't want some old fogey for the Phantom, they tried to make the Phantom younger and more 'appealing' especially for the female audience. Schumacher then remembers Gerry from Dracula 2000 for his somewhat 'sexual' performance (bleh). So he hires Mr.Butler and fits him in poofy shirts and Fabio-attire (Schumacher did want the Phantom to be shirtless, but Gerry was a tad 'chunky' at that time XD).
I also think that when you have not so great roles, (like Dracula 2000 or Timeline), you'll take whatever you can get.
Now if only they casted Hugh Jackman... (did you see his Phantom skit in SNL? *squees*) but ah well...maybe next time.

2. His voice was...eh.
A lot of people HATED Butler for his voice. Some phans in other sites compared his voice range to a monkey's. That's pretty f***ed up. The poor guy tried even though his voice range was horribly not up to par with stage phantoms. It was more rough than soft.

3. His deformity
I guess this coincides with number 1. It was just...a horrible burn and a receding hairline. No piece of skull, or messed up lip. He kinda looks like Brendan Frasier on a good day. But I would blame that on the director or make up artist. The fact that they wanted to keep him sexy is a bad decision that really messed up the audience's view on the actor.
They probably wanted to concentrate on his insanity, because they wanted to show that Christine left him for his "distorted soul" and not his face.

Schumacher is a pervert. He directed a Batman film and put nipples on the batsuit. His idea of a younger cast seemed like a great idea, but you have to remember this is a musical that requires a greater vocal range because of its operatic music. Young may be good, but young also mean inexperienced. The majority of the cast (minus Patrick Wilson) were not professional singers. Emmy had training when she was 7, but it did not continue. Plus, she was about 16 at the time, and a girl's voice does not mature that early in life. as for Butler, he had no training whatsoever, which makes me disgusted in Webber when he had more experienced candidates. The man is used to one role in films = sexy. The Phantom is not supposed to have sex appeal, even in the musical.

As for the deformity, they toned it down because Webber thought the stage one would be too much for film. His face is a MAJOR factor in how he ended up the way he was. The mental state came because of that.

Erm...I've got no comment to the first thing you said, Elaine.

But the second is correct. Schumacher and Webber are both "a waste of space" sometimes, honestly. And Gerry too.

What do you mean, "succumbed to Harry Potter"? What I said was a quote from Fawlty Towers. And I agree. I personally dislike most modern things, including movie actors. Stage Phantoms I'm OK with. But seriously, I tend to think I'm in the wrong time period or something every so often.

I can relate. I've felt like I know people before I met them, like my dentist.

I swear, first time I saw him, I was like, "Whatthe? Where've I seen him before?"

I know more about history than I do about modern-day. When I don't know who a band or someone is, my friend calls me "deprived". I've always disliked modern music, or is that because my parents always listen to country?

And yeah we have. But someone'll fix it sooner or later. It'll revert back to it's primitive state.


Oh, usually I watch shows that stopped airing before '93, when I was born. Or some episodes of Seinfeld from '92. Anyway...yeah...

I like him, for a lot of reasons.
- He was my first Erik, the first Phantom I fell for.
- I like his voice. It's not up there with the Stage Phantoms' voices, but I like it.
- He shows a side of Erik that craves the sexual part of love as well as the emotional part. In Leroux's original book we didn't see that, but who is to say that he didn't lust after Christine, as well as love her?
- I find him very sexy. Yeah, Erik's not supposed to be sexy. I dislike how they made him sexy in the movie. But I do think that Gerry pulls off 'sexy' very well.

And the clincher, what really made me love him;
- 'All I Ask of You: Reprise'. I really felt his emotion there, felt Erik's heartbreak. That was one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie. (Of course, it has to follow a boring (to me) Raoul/Christine love scene.)