Emma Watson’s Belle Revealed in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Teaser Trailer
Disney continues their new tale as old as time, remaking their animated classics in live action, with Beauty and the Beast. Here’s your first teaser trailer.
Maleficent skewed from their animated Sleeping Beauty by telling the story of the villain but then they stayed tried and true with Cinderella. I’m not sure where this new one will take us but I’ll be there in the theater. The teaser here reminded me just how fantastic the score was to this movie.
Directed by Oscar® winner Bill Condon from a screenplay by TBD based on the 1991 animated film, the film is produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman with eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards® (Best Original Score and Best Song) for the 1991 animated film, providing the score, which will include new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as several new songs written by Menken and three-time Oscar winner Tim Rice. “Beauty and the Beast” will be released in U.S. theaters on March 17, 2017.
The cast, which skews hella white, includes Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Sir Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Josh Gad as Le Fou, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe, and Kevin Kline as Maurice.
Disney also has a live action Mulan, Pinocchio, Cruella with Emma Stone, Dumbo from Tim Burton, Tinker Bell with Reese Witherspoon, and a sequel to Mary Poppins on the way. Beauty and the Beast will hit theaters March 17, 2017.
[…] just-released Beauty and the Beast teaser has out-viewed Star Wars: Force Awakens. Either way, Disney […]
Oh, I just noticed the wording on the cast paragraph. Hella white? I mean, in 1700’s France I can totally understand why there would be confusion about that. >.>. I am super-for representation in films (to the point that I refused to watch Gods of Egypt and that Christian Bale Moses one…), I just think this one would be an odd battle to pick.
Not really, though. I mean, the French were heavily interacting with Black people (among other Peoples of Color) during the time–that whole “slave-built colonies on the Americas” thing. At least some of those Black men and women, it stands to reason, would eventually make their way to France. And heck, we know that there were Black people along the more privileged classes in France at the time:Thomas-Alexandre Dumas–father of Alexandre Dumas of The Three Musketeers fame–for example, was of noble birth and became a general in the army, as one can learn after one minute in Wikipedia.
There’s no reason why Beauty and the Beast needs to pretend that non-white people weren’t a thing in the film’s setting. That “it’s 1700 France!” feels like a logical argument against racial diversity despite the historical record is precisely why this is a good battle to pick, I feel.
I never said non-white people weren’t in France in that time, but we should recognize that the numbers were very, very small, if not non-existent in a number of regions. But whose standards, whose numbers, which statistics? Do we use France’s current population statistics that put the amount of black people in France at around 4% and then compare that to the above cast list, or perhaps the extended cast list on IMDB? What about the most dramatically under-represented minority in cinema, those of asian descent?
Representation in film is a fantastic goal, but if you want to use historical record as a counter-argument, that’s going to end up working against you.
Another thing you mentioned caught me off guard… was this also a question of privileged classes? I didn’t even consider the castes because as far as I knew, the only royalty in the story was Beast himself.
Again, more representation in films is a good thing, but this film may not be the best vehicle for that particular windmill.
I should also point out that in that cast listing above, there are two P.O.C.. I realize that they’re going to be voicing the cursed furniture, but then so are most of the cast listed above.
Disney can do whatever they want, why not cast diverse?
The IMDB listing looks pretty diverse, but I realize that it’s listing a lot of smaller roles too. I don’t know what to say, other than, if Disney has been making a lot of steps in the right direction overall as a company, with features like Moana, and Star Wars, and (finally if late to the table) Marvel films, then asking for every movie, including period films set in Europe, might be over-correcting the ship.
I get that we still need to see a massive change in the entire industry, especially in lead roles, and I’d be just as excited to see this movie if Belle or Beast or Gaston were p.o.c., I also get why they might not have gone in that direction.
What’s the dividing line between true diversity and representation, and sliding beads on the abacus for every single production?
My only thought to a permanent solution is for the highest levels of decision-makers, directors, etc to become more diverse themselves, because yeah, we’re battling the blind spots and unconscious privilege at work due to the limited life experiences of those currently calling the shots in the industry.
But also, why not keep this one in perspective? 1700’s France, and a live-action remake of an animated film where, for better or worse, masses of people are going to expect to see the characters they know and love from the original.
Period film that also features a magically transforming man into beast and his workers into moving furniture.
That’s fair. It’s really not my intent to pick a fight over it, either, sorry for how long-winded I got about it!
Ugh this looks so good. I can’t wait!
Huh! Is it just me, or does that portrait seem to hint that they’re keeping the (accidental?) element from the film, where the prince is actually a child / tween when he is transformed into the beast? I’m…kind of hoping that’s the case?