When Disney announced they were doing a live-action retelling of their Oscar winning classic Beauty and the Beast, they had us ready to dive in. Then, when it was revealed that Emma Watson would be Belle, the anticipation meter went through the roof. The announcement that Dan Stevens of The Guest fame would be Beast, well then… March 17, 2017 got circled in pen on our calendars.
Then the rest of the cast was revealed and I think there was some seismic shaking going on at The Movie Mensch offices. Yup, Ian McKellen will be Cogsworth, Kevin Kline will be Belle’s father, Maurice, Emma Thompson is Mrs. Potts, Luke Evans is Gaston, Josh Gad (Frozen) will be LeFou, Gugu Mbath-Raw is Plumette, Evan McGregor is set to be Lumiere and Stanley Tucci is the grand piano named Cadenza.
The above teaser trailer for Beauty and the Beast is truly that… a tease. Watson says one word and that is, “Hello.” We hear a couple of other characters wondering if she is “the one.” Of course those of us familiar with the classic fairy tale know all too well what that means.
Bill Condon (DreamGirls) is directing, while Alan Menken (who won two Oscars for the animated original) will return with a few new songs with lyricist Tim Rice.