With 2016 nearing a close, it’s time to turn our attention
to the films which will be released next year. One of the most highly anticipated
films of 2017 is Disney’s live-action remake of their 1991 animated classic Beauty and the Beast. The original
film, based on the iconic French fairy tale (as well as Jean Cocteau’s 1946
version of it), tells the story of Belle, a young woman who helps to redeem a
prince who had been turned into a Beast by a curse. It became the first
animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and spawned a popular
stage adaptation and two straight-to-video “midquels”. Now, Disney are reviving
the story in live action, aiming to emulate the success of their recent remakes
of Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and The Jungle Book. The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast will be released in both the UK and USA on Friday
17th March.
In May, a 90-second teaser for the film received 91.8 million views in just 24 hours. Although it told us almost nothing about the
story, the images of the Beast’s castle and a brief glimpse of Emma Watson as
Belle made fans incredibly excited. Last week, we got a much clearer look at Beauty and the Beast when Entertainment
Weekly released nine promotional images for the film. These images gave us a
glimpse into how the iconic characters created by Disney will be depicted in
Live-Action:
Belle
It has been clear from the very beginning that the presence
of Emma Watson as Belle is one of the remake’s main selling points. She was the
first person to be cast in the film, and she was also the only person shown in
the teaser. Watson is famous for playing Harry Potter’s brainy friend Hermione
Granger in the Harry Potter series, and
her popularity in that role makes it easy to imagine her as a Disney Princess defined
by her love of reading. The casting of Emma Watson has generally been received positively,
with Paige O’Hara, who voiced Belle in the original film, and Susan Egan, who
played her in the stage production, both endorsing the decision to allow Watson
to play Belle.
Belle’s prominence in the remake has been highlighted by the
fact that the majority of the nine promotional images depict her, either in the
blue and white “Peasant clothing” she wore for much of the original film, or
the elegant yellow dress she wore during the iconic Ballroom dance sequence
which was one of the highlights of the 1991 version. Emma Watson looks a bit
plain, but that’s not a much of a problem when you’re essentially playing an 18th
Century peasant, and she also has a genuinely beautiful smile.
However, Belle should be defined by her brains and
personality rather than her beauty, and the remake has made one major change to
her character. Belle’s love of stories will still be her defining trait, but
she is now also an inventor. She invents items to make chores such as doing the
laundry easier, and uses her increased amount of free time to read. Her father,
Maurice (Played by Kevin Kline) is also an inventor, as he was in the original film.
In the remake, he will create music boxes modelled on exotic animals and
places. This quirk looks like it will provide an additional explanation for
Belle’s fascination with the world beyond her peasant village, as the music
boxes remind her of “what she’s missing”. It seems that Belle will be a pretty
well-developed character in this remake, and this will make it easier to root
for her.
The Beast
It is a bit hard to talk about the Beast at this point, as
these images represent our first proper look at the character, who will be
played by Dan Stevens. The two promotional images which feature him both show
him interacting with Belle in pretty smart clothing, which provides a contrast
with his fur-covered body and the horns on his head. Both images appear to be
taken from later in the movie (one shows him and Belle dancing, the other shows
him reading in the library he gave to Belle in the original film), so it
remains to be seen how he will portrayed in the early stages. Initially, Beast
needs to be imposing enough for viewers to fear him, but sympathetic enough for
Belle’s decision to stay with him not to be dismissed as “Stockholm Syndrome” –
a ludicrous but popular criticism of their relationship in the original film. The
Beast is probably the most complex character in the original film, as he
changes from an aggressive person lacking compassion to a selfless and
heroic individual, and I look forward to seeing how Dan Stevens handles this
character arc.
The Household
Staff
Among the most memorable characters in Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast are the Beast’s
household staff, who have been transformed into anthropomorphized household objects
as part of the curse placed on the Beast and his castle. The promotional image
above gives us our first full look at the four central members of the staff – the
stuffy clock Cogsworth (Voiced by Sir Ian McKellen), the motherly teapot Mrs.
Potts (Voiced by Emma Thompson), the suave candelabra Lumiere (Voiced by Ewan
McGregor) and the playful feather-duster Plumette (Voiced by Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
There will also be other enchanted servants, such as the neurotic grand piano Cadenza
(Voiced by Stanley Tucci), but they will not be introduced to viewers until
closer to the release date. The choice of actors for these roles is really
intriguing, with Sir Ian McKellen being especially well-suited to portray
Cogsworth. Ewan McGregor is a riskier
choice, particularly as he is aiming to replicate Lumiere’s signature French
accent (This contrasts with McGregor’s performance in Moulin Rogue!, where he maintained his normal speaking voice in
spite of the fact that this film was also set in a fantasy version of France). However,
I think that he can bring the character to life effectively. Ultimately, I am
excited to see how the household staff is portrayed because I can’t wait to see
some of Britain’s best-loved actors bring some of Disney’s best-loved
characters to life.
That said, there will be a number of challenges involved in bringing
the household staff to life. The main problem with translating Beauty and the Beast into Live Action
is that the change in medium will make it harder for the characters to seem
expressive. In animation, many features of a character (such as their eyes) can
be exaggerated in order to emphasise their personality and defining characteristics.
However, in Live Action, realism is much more important, so the caricatured approach
of the original film cannot be replicated. This means that there has to extra
emphasis placed on the acting, directing and screenplay, as the personalities
of the characters have to be developed more in order to make the characters
stand out.
In spite of this issue, I think that the new designs for
Lumiere, Cogsworth, Miss Potts and Plumette look very interesting. They look
realistic enough to seem like household objects, but their faces and bodies are
depicted with great detail, allowing their personalities to be clearly
apparent. It will be interesting to see the household staff in action, and I am
looking forward to seeing how they interact with Belle and the Beast.
The Villains
The promotional images give us our first look at Luke Evans’ portrayal of the original film’s self-aggrandizing villain, Gaston. Disney
Villains are either over-the-top and fantastical (e.g Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, Ursula in The Little Mermaid, Jafar in Aladdin) or unnervingly realistic (e.g Lady
Tremaine in Cinderella, Judge Frollo
in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince
Hans in Frozen), and Gaston is an
interesting antagonist because he represents both types of villainy. On one
hand, his extreme masculinity is often played for comedy, especially during his
signature self-titled song. However, as the film progresses, Gaston’s violent
and manipulative nature becomes increasingly apparent, as he is willing to resort
to threats and murder in order to get what he wants. At this early stage, we
don’t know exactly how Evans will balance the comedic and menacing sides of his
character. However, the promotional images give us one subtle indication that Gaston
will be just as narcissistic as he was in the original film. If you look
closely at the photo above, it seems that the heroic pose he is providing for
the villagers may be designed to emulate the image of him which appears to be painted
onto the tavern ceiling. The difference between the heroic image and the unpleasant reality will define Evans’
performance as Gaston, and provide an interesting contrast to the Beast’s
redemption.
Josh Gad, who voiced Olaf the snowman in Frozen, will play Gaston’s obsequious sidekick LeFou.
It will be interesting to see Gad’s goofy, bumbling approach applied to a
villainous character, and his singing voice is pretty close to that of Jesse
Corti, who voiced LeFou in the original film. Compared to the other characters,
the role of LeFou is a pretty small part, but Josh Gad is a very good choice
for the role.
Who’s Working Behind
the Scenes?
As interesting as the portrayals of the main characters will
be, the people working behind the scenes are equally instrumental in bringing
this remake of Beauty and the Beast
to life. It will be directed by Bill Condon, best known for directing the 2006 adaptation
of the musical Dreamgirls, whilst
the screenplay was written by Stephen Chbosky (who scripted Emma Watson’s 2012
film The Perks of Being A Wallflower)
and Even Spiliotopoulos (who began his career working on Disney’s infamous straight-to-video
sequels from the early 2000’s). However, the most iconic person working behind
the scenes on this film is Alan Menken, who wrote the songs for the original
movie. He will be working on the soundtrack for this one, which combines the
old favourites (“Be Our Guest”, “Beauty and the Beast”) with some new songs
co-written with Tim Rice, including one for the Beast called “Forever More”. Although
none of the songs created for the stage adaptation (which include “Home” and “If
I Can’t Have Her”) will be included in the new film, the soundtrack seems very
impressive. As this is the first of Disney’s live-action remakes to be a
full-on musical, it seems that the songs will be a highlight. Fans will be
interested to see the songs from the original film sang by new actors in
live-action, but the additional songs will provide a little something extra to
make the forthcoming film stand out even more.
Conclusion
The promotional images released by Entertainment Weekly have succeeded in increasing my interest in the Live-Action remake of Beauty and the Beast. We now have a better idea of how the classic characters will be brought to life by the all-star cast. With less than five months to go until the movie is released, there will undoubtedly be more trailers and images released, which I can't wait to see. I have a feeling that this will be another excellent version of Beauty and the Beast, which will be worthy of comparisons with the original classic.
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