Phantom’s Latest Lady

Brunette Jill Schoelen was under consideration as the female lead in the new film version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” but the producers were thinking blond. Schoelen held her ground, and the peroxide stayed on the shelf.

“They had this vision,” says the Burbank-born Schoelen, “but the problem with using Jill Schoelen was that I was not blond. One of the first sentences out of (the director’s) mouth was, ‘How do you feel about being a blonde?’ He explained to me the whole ‘princess’ idea of the role, and I just frankly told him, ‘Snow White is a princess too.’ ”

Robert Englund, known better as the viciously manicured Freddy Krueger, is the Phantom in the just-released production, which was shot in Budapest.

Phantom mania is here, what with the eternal Andrew Lloyd Webber spectacle (Schoelen hasn’t seen it), an upcoming TV movie and yet another stage version due shortly in Los Angeles. It’s not lost on Schoelen that this ubiquitousness is a plus for her project, though her feelings seem mixed.

“There are wonderful things about it, and also great insecurities about it,” says the actress with a laugh, her voice imbued with an appealing hoarseness. “I think to a certain degree, obviously, the name ‘Phantom’ is going to help. But also, I fear that there are a lot of people who don’t know. . . . I think that a lot of people are thinking it’s a musical.” A musical it’s not, Schoelen explains, as people are surely murdered in this film.

Schoelen had intended to absorb other versions of the Gaston Leroux classic to assist her in interpreting the role. Ultimately, she ended up only seeing a couple of reels of the 1943 Claude Rains movie before deciding to scrap that approach and go with a fresh perspective.

“Preconceived ideas, you know, they’ll just screw you up every time,” says Schoelen, laughing again.