Washington, June 29 : Theatre impresario Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that Michael Jackson wanted to star in the movie version of the hit musical `Phantom Of The Opera'.

After watching the show, which debuted in 1988, numerous times the King of Pop discussed seriously with Lloyd about starring as `The Phantom' in a big screen adaptation of the hit musical.

But Lloyd Webber could not make it happen for Jackson back then, as he wasn''t ready to turn it into a film.

However, when the helmer did make the movie in 2004, he cast Gerard Butler.

"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," Contactmusic quoted Webber as saying.

"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," Webber added. (ANI)