'Beauty and the Beast': This actor may be playing the Beast
The live-action adaptation of 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥� may have found the other half of its title couple.
鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� actor Dan Stevens is reportedly in negotiations to star in the new Disney version of the film, according to the . Actress Emma Watson announced on Facebook earlier this year that she is playing the protagonist, Belle.聽
According to the Hollywood Reporter, 鈥淭he Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies鈥� actor Luke Evans is in talk to portray 鈥淏eauty鈥� villain Gaston.
And according to Watson, Stevens and Evans joining the production seem to be done deals. She tweeted about the two on March 5.聽
Stevens is of course best known for his role as romantic hero Matthew Crawley on the smash hit British series 鈥淒ownton.鈥� More recently, he appeared in 2014鈥檚 鈥淣ight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb鈥� and 鈥淎 Walk Among the Tombstones.鈥�
If Stevens does join the cast, it will be an interesting choice. The Beast as a character is by necessity a bit more rough around the edges 鈥� at least at the beginning of the story 鈥� than the polished Matthew.聽
And 鈥淏eauty鈥� remains a good choice for a new live-action adaptation of a fairy tale (more were inevitable after the success of last year鈥檚 鈥淢aleficent鈥�). Early Disney stories like 鈥淪now White鈥� and 鈥淐inderella鈥� aren't exactly full of lessons we would want children today to absorb, with their frequent emphasis on heroines being valued for their beauty or couples getting engaged after one meeting. 鈥淐inderella鈥� is getting the live-action treatment this month and the movie鈥檚 director, Kenneth Branagh, emphasized in at least one interview how they moved away from such elements in the new movie.聽
鈥淲e've given it a contemporary feel that is human and humane and strangely enough, not built around the idea that Cinderella's life depends on finding a man or things, like clothes or a title, or just hoping this magic will come along,鈥� he told . 鈥淚t's much more about who she is, what she feels about herself, and taking that kind of sort of spiritual cue to make it refreshing in a contemporary way.鈥澛�
鈥淏eauty鈥� has no such stumbling block to get past, with protagonist Belle already being one of Disney鈥檚 strongest heroines. And the pedigree of the original movie is flawless 鈥� 鈥淏eauty,鈥� which came out in 1991, was the first animated movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (it鈥檚 still the only one to have earned a nod in a year in which there were only five Best Picture nominees) and is often called one of Disney鈥檚 best films ever. Monitor readers voted it the fifth-best animated film ever made.
