Official "Beauty & the Beast" Film Adaptation Thread

[dfrillsnedit]

Out of all the non-musical talent rumors I've heard, Dan Stevens would make the most sense. Ryan G. , though a talented actor, would not be right for this particular incarnation of The Beast. Dan has a more majestic, fairy tale quality to him that works better for Disney's rendition.

He was also particularly fun in Night at the Museum, which proves he's game to do just about anything, which was awesome to see. TEAM DAN, ALL THE WAY!

[disneybroadwayfan22]

We have Gaston!
Luke Evans to Play Gaston in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’

[laneyjd00]

Now that we know that, I'm just gonna throw this out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZOkWV9POcs

He'll be pretty great.

[tazber]

Can he sing?

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Ha, he's perfect! Thanks lane!

[little_sally]

Perfect casting! I liked him a lot in the Hobbit films.

[Princeton Returns]

Yes he can, he did plenty of musicals in the west end and on tour in the uk prior to movies. He is a tool but is great casting for gaston

[Princeton Returns]

Yes he can, he did plenty of musicals in the west end and on tour in the uk prior to movies. He is a tool but is great casting for gaston

[thirtythirtyninety]

singing "One Song Glory" from 2007 London RENT


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFcOBcOkVXw

[JP2]

That 'Delilah' video is incredible.


Side note, re: my post about Redmayne. Turns out it wasn't Beast, but Gaston that Disney wanted him for. He passed, and I'm glad he did. Evans will be terrific.

EDIT: Or, maybe not:

"BTW, for all you fans of MEET THE MOVIE PRESS, Eddie Redmayne passed on the role of the Prince in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, not Gaston. Just FYI"
https://twitter.com/TheInSneider/status/573259905982857216

[decast]

Luke Evans is long over due a musical. He was great in Taboo

[Mrtrobz]

Great casting once again perfectly suited I wonder will they have an all British cast.

[JP2]

"New rumors are that none other than Matthew Crawley (ok, Dan Stevens) is now being pursued for the Beast. At least the age range is pretty good-- he's 32, but can easily read younger. Anyone know how well he sings?"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disneys-beauty-beast-casts-dan-779323

[beautywickedlover]

Very nice casting choices. Evans was fantastic in 'The Hobbit' and I enjoyed Stevens in the third 'Night at the Museum' film. Thank you, Disney!

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Fantastic casting for both Luke and Dan!

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Dan Stevens is officially confirmed!
Guess Who Just Got Cast as The Beast in Beauty and the Beast!

[EricMontreal22]

I saw Luke Evans in Rent, in the West End--late 90s. He was great, and can sing. He's also great, as links show, on the DVD of the UK version of Taboo. Good casting.
I assume this solidifies the fact that he's back out of the closet? (I know he said something vague last year, and his wiki now says he's openly gay again when for a long time it went on about his girlfriend--for those who didn't know he was very out when he as a stage actor--even doing an interview about how much he liked gay porn, I think it had to do with some play about porn--and then when he and his agent decided to try for Hollywood suddenly they would try to erase as much as they could, mentioned he had a serious girlfriend--who I think may have been his agent--etc. Anyway, good for him.)

[StageManager2]

Great, another Disney production with mainly British cast (Emma Watson, Luke Evans, Dan Stevens) that will also be filmed in England (a la Maleficent, Into the Woods, Cinderella).

Why does Disney hate America(ns)?

[disneybroadwayfan22]

You have a good point. Nothing wrong with a British cast, but the characters are French. Will they speak in accents? It'll be like everyone in Les Mis.

[Mrtrobz]

So far it's traditional that Gaston has been played with an American accent, personally I never really notice accents if I am interested in the characters it's not at all distracting and it worked out well for Into the Woods then again I am Irish so hearing a localised version of BATB would be weird so we change our productions to the default American book.

As for filming in London it is probably easier and cheaper to use location shots that would otherwise be hard for the US to double as France. :)

[decast]

Luke Evans has been seen to be dating Jon Kortajarena, the model so I assume he's out.

I think Dan is really inspired kind of out of the blue casting, I mean was he on anyone's list for this role? Anyone who's seen The Guest will know he's more than chubby Matthew from Downton.

I assume film in here in the UK is financially a better choice, ITTW proved there are places good for fairytale landscapes but it's a shame they're not going to France or Belgium (look at the BBC's The White Queen) which had some stunning landscapes that aren't over used for film & tv like a lot of places in the UK.

[Eurotrash]

Accents - this is the common practice, and surely the reason is that American accents are perceived as 'modern' and certainly post the period of the piece which, while a fairytale, is essentially set pre-17th century. UK audiences would certainly have a lower tolerance of American accents in these cases.

[best12bars]

With the exception of Angela Lansbury and David Ogden Stiers, the film's vocal cast was all American. I don't think they worried about the American accents then.

CORRECTION: David Ogden Stiers is American as well, but he used a British accent as Cogsworth in the film. None of the other characters did that. (Lumiere was French however.)

[tazber]

Luke Evans is in and out. He came out but went back in sometime during The Hobbit filming.

But everyone knows he has a bf so there you go.

And again I find it odd how Disney is not mentioning anything about it being based on their musical.

If I didn't know it was a musical, I would assume it was like Branagh's Cinderella. Just a straight up retelling.

[best12bars]

Taz, I was starting to doubt that it WAS a musical adaptation of the film (an animated musical). I saw them stripping out the songs and using them as underscoring (ala "Fanny") but keeping the story based on the movie (Gaston, Mrs. Potts, etc.).

The only place I see the word "musical" listed is in the genre category on IMBb.com. Do you see "musical" anywhere else in the press? They only say it's based on the animated film, which doesn't necessarily mean it's a musical itself.

In fact, "Cinderella" is based on the animated musical film, and it's not a musical adaptation of the story.

They also don't credit BATB songs in the IMDb.com listing. There is no mention of "lyrics by Howard Ashman" anywhere. Just "Music by Alan Menken," but again, that could just be the underscoring.

I still think it's a musical ... right?

EDIT: I just checked again today, and I DO see credits for music AND lyrics now ... so yeah, I'm pretty sure this is a musical adaptation even if Cinderella and Maleficent were not.

[Mrtrobz]

It is a musical Emma Watson stated she had started singing lessons and apart from that all signs point to it being a musical film the director of Dream Girls, the writer of Rent,in the more expansive credits on IMDb Pro you can see the full creative team, Linda Woolverton is credited as "Based on the Animated Film and Musical Stageplay" also Tim Rice and Howard Ashman are credited as Lyricists.