Beauty and the Beast (Live-Action)

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I never saw the Broadway/touring production, so all I really know is the film (both the original and the extended version with Human Again). So, unlike many on here, I'm pretty excited to see what these new songs are like and I don't really mind that it's not an adaptation of the stage musical.

[Disney Duster]

Yea, I'm quite mad this won't be a film version of the musical. They could easily keep the way the original musical was to keep "If I Can't Love Her"! They didn't have to make a change if they kept it the same!

No way they will add "Days in the Sun" to "Human Again", the enchanted objects will and should only have one song to themselves...if any aside from "Be Our Guest"...

The third song better be for Belle.

[disneyprincess11]

This defientely has the Disney executives' fingerprints all over the Broadway songs, getting cut clearly because they want another Oscar win. The PLAN was it to be the Broadway show. It was announced with Emma Watson. Suddenely, it's not? If it's because of timing reasons, just keep "If I Can't Love Her" and "Home" or "Change in Me".

[nomad2010]

Actually, if you go back to the original press release (I honk even before watson was cast), it specifically says it will "feature songs from the movie." There is no mention of the Broadway musical at all. To me, I took it as them wanting to recreate the animated version without the overbearing and not so wonderfully written music from the Broadway show. I'm happy they went this way. I find the songs from the show dull and lacking in the same magic that the ones from the movie held.

[Escapay]

Wow, that's so fascinating!! Thank you! If you find the article, please let me know! I would love to read it!

Found the article! It's the cover story from the Spring 1994 issue of Disney Magazine. Unfortunately, I don't have my scanner down here, so I can't scan the pages and it would take too long to transcribe it myself, but among the more interesting facts from the article:

• The Houston tryouts was originally scheduled to run four weeks, popular demand extended it to six.
  
  Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner flew out every Sunday to watch the show and offer their notes. Among some of the other regular audience members were Houston locals who came back three or four just to see what was changing each time.
  
  After realizing just how lofty they made this production (comparably as big as The Phantom of the Opera), they began simplifying scene shifting and lighting in order to draw attention back to the story. This including modifying the costumes so that the actors could actually be visible among the elaborate headgear.
  
  More than six minutes was cut from the scene shifts alone.
  
  It wasn't until the final week that the wolves actually looked like wolves.
  
  "No Matter What" was originally a solo for Maurice, but rewritten as a father-daughter duet. (Ironically, "No Matter What" ended up as one of two songs cut from the touring productions.)
  
  Audience applauded at the *beginning* of "Be Our Guest" after the long anticipation for it to start. Fortunately, they applauded at the end of it, too.

I'm trying to find which magazine I have that talks about its long running time, unless I'm probably just confusing it with another musical that was very top-heavy in previews. But either way, the Houston version was very much a work in progress before the show hit Broadway, so it could still count as an alternative version of the story, even if most of it were technical/costuming/pacing issues and less about the narrative changes.

Albert

[Atlantica]

It must be a song for Belle surely, the 3rd new song ? As she doesn't actually have her 'own' song in the movie, which is something the show rectified.

[Escapay]

It must be a song for Belle surely, the 3rd new song ? As she doesn't actually have her 'own' song in the movie, which is something the show rectified.

I have a strong feeling it will be. The general consensus seems to be that the only songs worth saving from the Broadway version were "Home," "If I Can't Love Her," "Human Again," and "A Change in Me," and based on two of the three songs, it looks like we're getting new cinematic equivalents ("Forever More" for "If I Can't Love Her" and "Days in the Sun" for "Human Again"). The potential replacement of both "Home" and "A Change in Me" with a new Belle song seems to be entirely plausible (and is all but confirmed, really).

At this point, with so many changes in the development of this live-action version, I feel it will be a very different treatment of the story that's only tangentially related to both the animated film and the Broadway musical. If they had to have Evan Spiliotopoulos rewrite Linda Woolverton's libretto, and then bring in Stephen Chbosky later to rewrite the script again entirely, that points to a narrative that will likely not resemble the animated film we know and love. And that would certainly explain the decision to ultimately not use any Broadway songs, but have three new (and similar) songs take their place. Who knows, these new songs may be better than the Broadway ones. After all, when Alan Menken and J.A.C. Radford revisited Newsies for the stage, they not only added new songs, but had the opportunity to rewrite lyrics for the existing ones. The end result is a much stronger narrative with far superior lyrics when compared to the familiar ones that an audience grew up with. For all we know, Beauty and the Beast will be the same.

Albert

[Disney's Divinity]

The only song I'm really mourning is "Human Again"--I love that one. Actually, I'm feeling a little more excited wondering what the new songs will sound like. I'm going in with the expectation that they'll be inferior to the movie's songs, but decent nonetheless. Which is how I think of "Home," "IICLH," etc. They are okay songs; it's just sitting beside masterpieces like "BOG," "Belle," and "B&tB" that they stand out as lesser.

[DisneyFan09]

The only song I'm really mourning is "Human Again"--I love that one. Actually, I'm feeling a little more excited wondering what the new songs will sound like. I'm going in with the expectation that they'll be inferior to the movie's songs, but decent nonetheless. Which is how I think of "Home," "IICLH," etc. They are okay songs; it's just sitting beside masterpieces like "BOG," "Belle," and "B&tB" that they stand out as lesser.

"Human Again" is a really good song. I didn't care for it when I saw it initially, but it has grown on me.

[rodrigo_ca]

They could just write *more* songs instead of cutting songs. At least I'll not have to hear the awful Maison des Lunes.
And Days in the Sun just sounds lame. The title sounds like "oh, blablabla I remember when I was a human *sighs, sighs, sighs, siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighs*".
I hope they keep the reprise for Beauty and the Beast as a duet. PLEASE DO IT.

And how interesting the tryouts in Houston. I'm really curious about the original costumes lol.

[Prince Edward]

Sad to hear that we will not be hearing songs like If I Can't Love Her, Human Again, Home and A Change In Me. They should keep the reprise for Beauty and the Beast as a duet in the end at least.

But I am excited to see a live action version of the Disney animated movie, I hope that they stay as close to the original as possible without it being a copy. Also, it will be fun to hear new Menken songs. Hopefully Alan Menken and Tim Rice will be Oscar nominated, and perhaps they will even win. Would show the people at Disney that they should treat Menken better.

I do hope this will be a huge financial (and maybe even critical) success, to pave the way for remakes of movies such as The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. A box office success at the level of what that lackluster Maleficent movie earned should be within reach I presume? Is this going to be released in 3D?

[Sotiris]

Interviews with Ian McKellen.

I play a clock. And my name is Cogsworth. And I get to sing. I'm sorry I'm not allowed to tell you what I sing. It's terribly exciting!

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertain ... story.html

Sir Ian McKellen has revealed he’s not a singer by nature, as he tunes up for his role in Beauty and the Beast. “I can get by but I’m playing a clock, and clocks don’t sing frightfully well, so we’re OK,” the 76-year-old actor said. While Sir Ian doubts his singing skills, director Bill – who worked with the actor on Mr Holmes and Gods And Monsters – reckoned the star will nail it. “He’s already done a pre-recording of the score and he’s a natural,” he said. Bill continued: “It’s going so well so far. We’re very lucky to have a great cast. It’s such pleasure, that great score. We’ve been shooting musical numbers every week, it’s been thrilling. “And next week, Sir Ian McKellen gets to make his singing and dancing debut.”

Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sir-ian-mckel ... 02218.html

Beauty and the Beast is a Disney film, and also stars Emma Thompson, Emma Watson and Kevin Kline. “The cheek of it made me want to do it,” he says. “They had written this fantastic character. He is a butler that gets turned into a clock. It is based on the Disney animation, although here animation is used for the characters that the prince sees when he is under the spell.”

The prince-cum-beast, played by Dan Stevens, won’t be animated. “He will be a monster, a beast. Basically, I just have had to supply a voice and the animators will do the rest. Then, at the end of the film, the characters all turn back into their real selves and then I sing and dance in a Disney movie.”

Source: http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ ... 37310.html

“We’re friends and we had a success a long time ago with ‘Gods and Monsters’ and we’ve stayed friends since then,” he says of Condon. “We’d always hoped to do another film together, and this one fit the bill. Everyone’s different, but I particularly like the mood on his sets. I just did three or four days on his Disney film of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it was the same way. There were 150 people on that set the day I was there, but it was very relaxed, and that all comes from the director.”

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Fo ... 379879.php

Q: Speaking of Bill and also fantasy, you are working with him again in Beauty And The Beast, I wanted to ask, are you doing motion capture for that? Because you’re playing a clock…

Ian McKellen: Unfortunately not, no. They’re using a variety of techniques, but the Cogsworth Clock, that has all been choreographed without me. I’ve added my voice to the picture, and the other way around, and then there is a big scene at the end where everybody comes back to life, and the prince is restored and I go back to being the majordomo and my wife appears and we dance together. So that was my big contribution to the film: being in the big dance scene. So, no. I wanted to be the clock, but I couldn’t. But my voice will be heard! And my face will eventually be seen!

Source: http://collider.com/ian-mckellen-sherlo ... gy-hobbit/

Q: And now, you’re doing Beauty and The Beast together again. You’re playing Cogsworth,tell me about that because everyone is really excited for it. I’m really excited for it.

Ian McKellen: It’s amazing how many people are. It’s some people’s favorite movie that they must know from when they’re a kid. I play Cogsworth and I can tell you that he does not have his own song. Whenever I go up near a microphone and saw Alan Menken, I start singing [sings], “My name is Cogsworth and I’m a clock. Tick Tock.” I’ve been doing that. I told Bill we should write Cogsworth his own song, but he said no. Most of the time my character is in animation. But, what a great cast, Audra McDonald and when she starts singing and Emma Thompson.

Q: You’re teasing me now. I’ve got to wait two years for this.

Ian McKellen: I spoke to him (Bill Condon) last night. He’s editing it now in New York. He’s already seen a lot of it and is very happy. He’s a worrier, so if he’s happy then you’ll be good.

Source: http://www.awardsdaily.com/2015/10/12/i ... rds-daily/

Mr Holmes saw him working again with Gods and Monsters director Bill Condon, who has since sorted Sir Ian out with a role in Disney's live-action version of Beauty and the Beast.

"I did frankly just say to him, 'what's my part in Beauty and the Beast?' A few days later he said, 'I think there is a part, but not a large one," says Sir Ian. "I didn't do much work on it, because for most of the film my character's actually a clock. But when the clock turns back into a human being, that's when I come into my own."

Sir Ian says he has no idea how popular the film - starring the "wonderful" Emma Watson as Belle - will be.

"It is astonishing to me how many people tell me that the animated version of Beauty and the Beast is their favourite film of all time and they can't wait for this," he reveals. "The anticipation is more than it was even for the filming of The Hobbit book after Lord of the Rings, so I'm very lucky to be involved."

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34660715

Q: Your first Oscar nomination was for 1998’s Gods and Monsters, directed by Bill Condon. It took you almost 15 years to work together again, but now you’ve made two films back-to-back: Mr. Holmes, and Bill’s upcoming re-do of Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens.

Ian McKellen: Was it that long? Well, we always said we'd try to do something else, and he called me up one day and said, "I think I found it." So, that was that. I don't develop things of my own. There's no point doing that, takes too much time. It's true that I did suggest to him, "What am I playing in Beauty and the Beast?" And he said, “Play the clock.”

Q: And how are you playing the clock? Do they cover you in dots for motion-capture?

Ian McKellen: No, not me. Some figures are animated, like the clock, but then the clock becomes a human being at the end. So, all I had to do was the bit where I woke up, and [the rest was voice]. Other people have dots, I think. The Beast, he had to be in one of those suits.

Q: They painted dots all over Dan Stevens? That's unfortunate.

Ian McKellen: [Laughs.] Well, that's what they do. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about that. I wouldn't mind doing motion capture. It's interesting, but it's not come my way yet.

Source: http://www.vulture.com/2015/11/ian-mcke ... ights.html

Q: Next up is "Beauty and the Beast" [also directed by Condon]. Did Bill call you again?

Ian McKellen: I think it was reverse. I said, "What am I playing in 'Beauty and the Beast?'" He said, "Well, I don't have any big parts." I said, "Good, I don't want a big part." So I go and I'm on the same set with Audra McDonald, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Dan Stevens, Emma Watson, Ewan McGregor, and we're all dancing and we've all got posh clothes on, and lots of makeup, and we all sing. Bliss.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/en ... story.html

Q: Next you're taking on the live-action Beauty and the Beast.

Ian McKellen: Well, I've done that, yes. I'm Cogsworth the clock if you remember the animated version. Last night, I saw the very first screening ever at [Bill Condon's] apartment, down in Tribeca. You're all in for a treat. Absolute magic.

Source: http://www.today.com/video/ian-mckellen ... 7875523777

Though he's not known as a singer, Sir Ian was eager to sign up for the musical spectacular. "I'd never been in a musical, and certainly not a Disney musical," McKellen told Vulture at a luncheon for his film Mr. Holmes, hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company. "So I think I did rather shamelessly say, 'What's my part?' to [director Bill Condon]. And he said, 'Well, you can play a clock.'" McKellen joked, "I have written my own song, but it didn't make it in." Then, though he had just described himself as not particularly musical, he improved a line or two of a possible Cogsworth solo for us. "My name is Cogsworth / And I'm a clock / Tick-tock," he sang. "I call it Beauty and the Clock."

Despite robbing us of a McKellen original, Bill Condon, who memorably worked with McKellen on Gods and Monsters, was enthusiastic about the actor’s performance. "He is completely, innately musical, which I suspected he would be, just having heard him recite Shakespeare," said Condon. McKellen also has apparently been hiding his comedic timing. Condon recalled, "We did a read through of the show a month before we started shooting the script. And he came in, he just killed every line. It was like you're in the presence of someone who's done stand-up for 20 years."

Source: http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/ian-mcke ... beast.html

Q: In the upcoming, live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” you play Cogsworth the Clock, also directed by Bill Condon. What kind of direction did he give you as Cogsworth?

Ian McKellen: He didn’t have to do a lot because once we decided on the basics, it was just quick shots. But he encouraged me because he kept laughing, which is nice. I think that’s my contribution to the film, to get a couple of laughs. It’s a very simple character, for most of the time in animation. I did the voice. But apparently they’ve copied a little bit the way I walk, when Cogsworth comes back to life as a human, into the way the [animated] clock walks.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/12/ ... perheroes/

Q: Have they started filming already?

Ian McKellen: Yeah, they’re finished. On the first day, where they had a read-through for everyone to meet up, they were all sitting around these tables and unbeknownst to me behind us there was a choir and an orchestra and whenever it came to a musical number they’d rehearse it. You’d turn and there they were doing the dance. It was the most thrilling show I’ve ever been to. Wonderful and the film is going to be sensational.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKxz0LxKZ58

[PatrickvD]

I'm warming up to the idea that this movie will be a thing.

For me the only way it can work is if they include new (and please for the love of God) good songs. So no, not the songs from the musical. Half of those are awful.

And Emma better blow everyone away. We have no record of her singing voice do we?

[Sotiris]

Interviews with Bill Condon.

We asked Condon to tell us what we could expect from his retelling, but careful not to reveal anything too exciting two years before it will hit cinemas, he simply replied: "It's big, you know! We're in our first month [of filming] and we've shot some numbers and they're kind of enormous and the sets are great! It's just been exciting to everybody. Getting to play with that incredible score and that beautiful story."

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mr-holmes-ian- ... ue-1505647

Q: You're working on Beauty and the Beast at the moment. Another big, daunting challenge for storyteller. Can you talk a bit about what we can expect from that?

Bill Condon: Sure. It's exciting. We're into our first month of shooting and it's just been everyday, to be on these huge sets that represent the Beast's castle, to see these big musical numbers. We're all pinching ourselves. It's just been a very exciting, a very kind of realistic telling of that story.

Q: Talk a little about the cast for that. The beautiful Emma Watson is the lead.

Bill Condon: I think she is going to blow everybody away. We've already done two of her musical numbers. She's a beautiful singer, a wonderful dancer. She's become one for this movie and she's just one of the hardest working people I've ever met. She's really just doing a beautiful job so far. As is Hattie Morahan, who's playing the Enchantress in the movie.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkgiqYbQzW8

Q: What has the future in store, anything after Beauty and the Beast?

Bill Condon: That is my future [laughs], for the next two years until we finish it. You shoot a movie like this and that’s almost like the prep for the production which becomes the editing and creating so much of it in post [production]. In the case here, the household staff and creatures are computer-generated. It’s an important movie to a lot of people. I was a young adult when it came out and I loved it and there’s so many people in their 20s, 30s, 40s who saw it as children and love it. In a way that’s a good thing and a bad thing because people have strong feelings and memories of it - so we have to make sure we don’t screw it up. It’s great so far. Big and complicated but very, very fun.

Q: Will your Beauty And The Beast be a reimagining of the 1991 animated classic, or are you sticking strictly to the source?

Bill Condon: It’s interesting. First of all it’s a really perfect movie. What I’m hoping is, we’re expanding on things and bringing it into a third dimension means that characters can’t behave exactly in the same way. You know, Gaston and LeFou can’t be literally as cartoonish as there were in the movie. I’m hoping it’s a satisfying expansion of what people already know.

Source: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/bill-co ... -the-beast

[DisneyFan09]

So the 1991 version was absolutely perfect, huh? Haha.

Sorry for my snark, but this is the problem with "Beauty and the Beast"-worshipers; Their argument is that the movie is perfect, when it really isn't. It's not to slam it entirely, since it is an intelligent and smart film. But it's far from perfect. Personally, I thought Gaston was the third wheel, when the Beast served well as an antagonist. I wasn't particularly fond of the juvenile, awkward comedy, which felt quite out of place. Both Gaston and the enchanted servants took the majority of the screentime. Maurice and Phillippe were annoying.

[Vlad]

So the 1991 version was absolutely perfect, huh? Haha.

Sorry for my snark, but this is the problem with "Beauty and the Beast"-worshipers; Their argument is that the movie is perfect, when it really isn't. It's not to slam it entirely, since it is an intelligent and smart film. But it's far from perfect. Personally, I thought Gaston was the third wheel, when the Beast served well as an antagonist. I wasn't particularly fond of the juvenile, awkward comedy, which felt quite out of place. Both Gaston and the enchanted servants took the majority of the screentime. Maurice and Phillippe were annoying.

I completely agree about Gaston! I think he's he dullest Disney villain ever, together with Hans.

[disneyprincess11]

Nathan Mack is Chip, Henry Garett & Harriet Jones are the Beast's parents, Rudi Goodman is the young Beast, and the whole cast has been posted!

Also, the Enchantress's name is Agathe.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771200/ful ... cl_sm#cast

[DisneyFan09]

I completely agree about Gaston! I think he's he dullest Disney villain ever, together with Hans.

I don't find him dull. I find him to be inferior to many of his counterparts. He comes across as a buffoon rather than a real villain and although he is malicious and evil, he still lacks the charisma which the best Disney villains have. Even inferior villains than Ratcliffe and Clayton outshines Gaston.

[Disney's Divinity]

I personally feel Gaston is very good for what he was intended to be. He was never going to be as memorable as Maleficent, Ursula, Frollo, Hades, etc. because he wasn't meant as an all-out, show-off, world-takeover type. He's nothing more than an exemplar of the lifestyle that Belle wants to escape, and he succeeds at that very well. I guess I find him well-done because I've met a lot of Gaston's out there (living in the South, they seem to be more common than most other places...).

I definitely prefer him to most other non-magical villains, like Edgar, Clayton, Ratcliffe, Gothel, etc. I also think B&tB is top-tier for Disney and is generally considered a great film outside the Disney name. The majority do seem to feel that way, which is why they're probably being careful with this following the animated film so closely.

[nomad2010]

I personally feel Gaston is very good for what he was intended to be. He was never going to be as memorable as Maleficent, Ursula, Frollo, Hades, etc. because he wasn't meant as an all-out, show-off, world-takeover type. He's nothing more than an exemplar of the lifestyle that Belle wants to escape, and he succeeds at that very well. I guess I find him well-done because I've met a lot of Gaston's out there (living in the South, they seem to be more common than most other places...).

I definitely prefer him to most other non-magical villains, like Edgar, Clayton, Ratcliffe, Gothel, etc. I also think B&tB is top-tier for Disney and is generally considered a great film outside the Disney name. The majority do seem to feel that way, which is why they're probably being careful with this following the animated film so closely.

I find it funny that anyone complains about Gaston being a bad villain. I never saw him as the true villain anyways. Isn't the Beast and his issues more of the villain? Gaston is more of a side character who happens to be evil in my opinion. Sure, he serves the antagonist role but only to push the characters to where they need to be I've never really thought of Gaston as the true villain of that movie until this thread, strangely enough. I'm sure I'm the odd man out, but I do think it's interesting.