Official "Beauty & the Beast" Film Adaptation Thread

[Starship]

I think there's a lot of bits and pieces that go with casting film/stage roles. The name, talent, and availability of an actor are obviously all factors in casting roles that I feel people forget about commonly. I'm sure that some directors are silly and only want to cast white actors in their roles, but I don't think casting directors purposely "white wash" films nor do I think having minorities as extras is saying that they don't trust them for lead roles. I honestly find it far more offensive when movies/shows cast minorities in random roles just to please people's complaints. Half the time it doesn't even make sense with the storyline and is just something thrown in.

Race doesn't matter to me and although racism exists everywhere, I don't think it's fair to hate on films just because there isn't a minority as a lead.

[Elfuhbuh]

"Timothy Spall is a little too young for Maurice. I expected older or older-looking"


Timothy Spall is 58 years old. His actual age is appropriate for the part, and I'm sure they could do a little make-up job to make him look older if they needed to.

[LizzieCurry]

They had a couple black people as extras during Cinderella's wedding.


WELL THAT SOLVES EVERYTHING

[SonofRobbieJ]

^ Slow. Mutherf*cking. Clap.

[best12bars]

I hate being politically correct or incorrect but personally I find that certain casting I cannot wrap my head around. And Le Miz has just done it again. Sorry but I do not believe a black Eponine or Enjorlas. They did it the first time fine, but they could have gone back to normal casting for te cast change. As I have said just one person's opinion.

"Normal" casting? Sweet Jesus.

I wish to God this was just "one person's opinion."

We all know black people weren't invented until the civil war, and they didn't show up again until the 1930s as maids in movies. We all know that.

How could there be black people in the French Revolution or in Germany while the Grimm brothers were writing their stories. It's just not true! We all know that.

Black people weren't allowed to exist until we wrote them out of our history books, then complained about it and wrote them in. Now we're working hard to write them out again.

And there's no such thing as Asians.



Oh! ... and "Sweet Jesus" was white. We all know that, too.

[degrassifan]

"Someone else mentioned that the upcoming live-action Cinderella also has multiracial extras and found it "neat." Well, I think it's insulting and just pandering to minorities. They're pretty much saying, we don't trust you for the major roles, but you can be one of the silent extras. They're just throwing in a few people of color to seem diverse. Otherwise, why even have black townspeople?"

Well, they don't have black, Hispanic, and Asian people as the major characters because the film is based on the animated version, so the major characters resemble their animated counterparts. However, they cast minorities in other roles. The Captain of the Guard/Prince Charming's best friend was black; there was an African princess (I think her name was Imani) that was presented at the ball; (SPOILER) a major but minor character was Chelina, a Spanish princess that the Prince was to have an arranged marriage with (END SPOILER); the slipper was brought to the home of a wealthy and noble family that happened to be black and they had some dialogue, etc.

[best12bars]

But they really don't resemble their animated counterparts in the new "Cinderella."

None of the animated cast spoke with British accents. The fairy godmother looks nothing like the one from the animated movie (not even close), and neither do the stepsisters.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is they're white.

[StageManager2]

Incidentally, Hugh Grant was on Watch What Happens Live last week, and Andy Cohen asks him about his early movie, Maurice, except Cohen pronounced it as "Maw-REESE," but in the movie they say it like "Morris."

Anyway, the mention of Timothy Spall as Maurice made me wonder, how will they pronounce it, since the cast will be entirely British?

[StageManager2]

Incidentally, Hugh Grant was on Watch What Happens Live last week, and Andy Cohen asks him about his early movie, Maurice, except Cohen pronounced it as "Maw-REESE," but in the movie they say it like "Morris."

Anyway, the mention of Timothy Spall as Maurice made me wonder, how will they pronounce it, since the cast will be entirely British?

[darquegk]

I imagine that, as the majority of the character names in the piece are French, as opposed to one or two, they'll say them with the accent at the end. A Brit would pronounce Gaston as GASton and not GasTON traditionally, but especially with the way the music is written, the accent has to fall where it does or a number of moments in the score will not make sense.

[Elfuhbuh]

I imagine they'll pronounce everything the way they did in the original movie. Everyone is used to the names sounding the way they are by now.

[AHLiebross]

About 40 years ago, Disney did a live-action television remake of "Cinderella" with a multi-ethnic cast. When we're talking about fantasy, I really don't see any reason that we have to worry about whether a white father and mother could give birth to a black child, for example -- it's magic, just like turning the pumpkin into a coach.

As far as Nikki James as Eponine, it was clear that we, the audience, were supposed to see her as a white CHARACTER, because there is no magic or fantasy in Les Miz, and her two white parents would be likely to give birth to a white child (unless Mme. T. was fooling around, which is always a possibility with her).

I know we've beaten this horse to death many times in other threads, but, to me, as long as the audience doesn't get confused, minority actors should be free to play white roles because there is still a disparity in the roles available to minority actors. Could a black man play Ben Franklin? Sure, if he's made up to look like him, and it's obvious that the character is BF. OTOH, a play about race can't reasonably use any but the most light-skinned actors to play whites, because the audience will go berserk trying to figure out who is who.

In contrast, the only time I think it is ok to use white actors to play black people is if the character is supposed to be someone "passing" as white. I once wrote a short story that took place in Maryland, during the Civil War, where the white narrator specifically comments that she'd love to have the golden curls and creamy skin of her new housekeeper, instead of her own swarthy complexion. At the end of the story, the narrator discovers that her housekeeper is an escaped slave eluding the Confederate Army, and not the widow of a Union soldier, as she pretends to be. I think that the housekeeper almost HAS to be a white actor in a similar story on stage, or the audience will guess the plot twist.

In any event, I applaud Broadway's efforts to open up what were previously "white" roles to anyone who can play them well. Casting a black actor doesn't make the character black -- "suspending disbelief" should apply to race in most circumstances, just as it applies to accepting singing in a musical as if it were talking.

[StageManager2]

About 40 years ago, Disney did a live-action television remake of "Cinderella" with a multi-ethnic cast.

Try 18 years ago. I'm assuming you're referring to the 1997 R&H Cinderella, with Brandy as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen, Victor Garber as The King, and Paolo Montalban as the Prince.

Disney would not have attempted this in the seventies.

[beautywickedlover]

The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the songs we all know will be featured in the film. Plus, we can expect it to be released around 2017.

"“Beauty and the Beast,” featuring the same songs as the 1992 animated hit, will likely follow in 2017."


With ‘Cinderella,’ Disney Recycles Fairy Tales, Minus the Cartoons

[broadwayboy223]

Does that there not including the full Broadway score? They should at least put in Home and A change in me. And if can't love her.

[Bilbo3]

If they don't put minorities in the film, they're racist. If they DO put minorities in the film, they're still racist. What is it about race and Disney that get's people clutching their pearls? Lordy.

[Mrtrobz]

Tim Rice is listed for songs so they'll be putting in some if not the majority, although from recent interviews they've said they are going to follow the traditional fairytale but introduce new characters. Filming starts May 18th.

[Bilbo3]

New characters? Interesting..

[Mrtrobz]

Here is a link to the interview. :)

http://collider.com/allegiant-movie-ending-beauty-and-the-beast-todd-lieberman/

[JoseLee_]

I LOVE the songs "Home" and "If I Can't Love Her" hope they make it to the movie.

[Jonwo]

I imagine they could keep all the songs written from the stage version but cut some if not all the reprises and even add a new song.

[Mrtrobz]

As long as they have the original animated film songs, Home and If I can't love her I will be happy, of course I would love them to keep the majority or all of the Broadway songs but some of them could be skipped and still have time to develop the characters and make a great movie, the animated movie proved as much, I guess Me would be a good one to have in there for Gaston, other than that A change in Me and No matter what would be great to hear on film but they will probably be the first to go.

[thirtythirtyninety]

Hopefully "Human Again" will be included

[beautywickedlover]

New interview with Emma. She's slightly terrified of singing in the film.


Emma Watson Is Slightly Terrified to Sing in Beauty and the Beast

[Mrtrobz]

Hopefully she means that through humbleness and not that she is bad. :p

I expect she will be fine though, Lily James isn't a singer but she sings well in the Cinderella credits Disney have good vocal coaches and music producers to fix everything .

[smallvillefan16]

I'm hearing it will feature most of the Broadway score.

After hearing both lily James' 'A Dream is A wish' and Helena's 'Bibbidi' I think they should have made the film a musical and feature those songs.

Beauty and The Beast will be amazing. I hope it looks like the recent french film.