FILM 1632: BEAUTY AND THE
BEAST
TRIVIA: Ryan Gosling was
offered the role of the Beast, but turned it down to appear in La La Land (2016)
instead. Emma Watson
was offered the lead role in that film, but turned down that film to star in
this one.
According to Ewan McGregor, the
hardest part about playing Lumiere was getting the character's French accent
right, although his wife of twenty years is in fact French. He said his voice
ended up sounding Mexican instead of French, so he had to redo his dialogue
after filming had completed.
Alan Menken, who
scored Beauty and the
Beast (1991), returns to score this live-action adaptation, which
includes new recordings of the original songs in addition to new songs written
by Menken and Tim Rice.
Ewan McGregor
performed Lumiere's dances in motion-capture. However, he was embarrassed at
wearing the motion-capture suit, and couldn't dance properly, unless he was
completely alone with the filming crew.
During the ballroom scene, Emma Watson had a
hard time not looking at her feet, because Dan Stevens was
wearing steel toed shoes, and she was afraid he would step on her.
According to Disney, the first
teaser trailer was viewed 91.8 million times in its first 24 hours. This marks
the first teaser trailer of "Beauty and the Beast" to be the most
viewed teaser trailer in history. Beating the previous record by Star Wars: The
Force Awakens' (88 million views), followed by Captain America: Civil War (61
million views), each of them Disney films as well.
Bill Condon had
actors sing The Lion King (1994)'s "Hakuna Matata" at the
auditions to measure their singing voices. This was how he chose the final cast
for this film.
Luke Evans (Gaston)
had to wear fake teeth during filming due to having canines that are longer
than normal, which he said would have made Gaston look like a vampire.
Interestingly, he did in fact play a vampire in 2014's Dracula Untold as the
title character.
Hidden Mickey: The lock on the
stagecoach that Maurice and Belle are imprisoned in
In the 1991 classic the Beast's
castle is shown to be quite close to the village, close enough for an angry mob
to reach it in a few hours at most, yet nobody in the village know about it or
notices the absence of those who live there when they are cursed. The prologue
of the 2017 version elaborates on the story of the curse, stating part of the
curse involved the world forgetting about the castle and its inhabitants.
During Belle and Beast's waltz, the
letters WD can be seen in the coat of arms design on the floor. This is a nod
to Walt Disney.
Jean Dujardin was
strongly considered, and was the filmmakers' choice, for the role of Lumiere.
When Maurice first enters the
castle, he takes a second glance at the sconce holding up a lantern, as it resembles
a human arm. This is a nod to the Jean Cocteau 1946's French film version of La Belle et la Bête
(1946), where the halls of the castle are lit by human arms covered in gold
holding up candelabras.
In the first half of the film, the
Beast wears raggedy clothes, symbolizing his initially savage persona. After
the song "Days in the Sun", the Beast's outfits become more refined
and princely. This mirrors him slowly regaining his humanity.
The fictional town of Villeneuve is
so named for the original author of "La Belle et la Bête," and
Production Designer Sarah Greenwood used the real French village of Conques in
Southern France for the inspiration.
