Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 2017 American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films,[1][6] it is a live-action/CGI remake of Disney's 1991 animated feature film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 1756 version of the fairy tale.[7] Starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as Belle and the Beast respectively, the film features a supporting ensemble and choir cast including Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson.[8]
Beauty and the Beast
Virginia Katz
- February 23, 2017 (Spencer House)
- March 17, 2017 (United States)
129 minutes[2]
United States
English
$1.266 billion[3]
The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast was first announced in April 2014, with Condon attached to direct. The cast members signed on between January and April 2015, and filming took place primarily at Shepperton Studios in England from May to August of that year. With an estimated production budget of around $255 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Beauty and the Beast premiered at Spencer House in London on February 23, 2017, and was released theatrically in the United States in standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D formats, as well as Dolby Cinema, on March 17.[9] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its cast, songs, and visual detail.[10] It grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time. Amongst Disney's live-action remakes, it is the second-highest-grossing readaptation to date. The film received several accolades, including nominations for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design at the 90th Academy Awards.
Plot[edit]
A selfish and unkind prince hosting a ball is visited in his castle by an enchantress disguised as a beggar woman, who offers him an enchanted rose in exchange for shelter from a storm. When he rebuffs her, she reveals her true form and transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects before erasing them from the memories of their loved ones. For the curse to be broken, the prince must learn to love someone and earn that person's love before the last petal of the rose falls; otherwise, he will remain a beast forever and the servants will become inanimate.
Several years later in the nearby village of Villeneuve, Belle, the bookworm daughter of widowed artist Maurice, dreams of adventure while constantly rejecting advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter and war veteran. One day, Maurice becomes lost in the forest and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle. The Beast imprisons him after he catches him stealing a rose from the garden for Belle. Belle offers to take her father's place as prisoner; the Beast agrees.
Belle befriends the castle's servants, including candelabra/footman Lumiere, mantel clock/majordomo Cogsworth, feather-duster/maid Plumette, teapot/housekeeper Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, a teacup. When she finds the rose, the Beast angrily forces her to flee outside. Belle is ambushed by wolves and the Beast rescues her, getting injured in the process. As she nurses his wounds, they bond. He shows her a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers to their desired location. She visits her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor's mask and realizes that when she was an infant, she forcibly departed with her father after her mother's death from the bubonic plague, which Maurice was hesitant to reveal.
In Villeneuve, Maurice fails to convince the other villagers of the Beast. Gaston, believing that rescuing Belle could win her hand in marriage, agrees to help him. When Maurice discovers his ulterior motive, Gaston abandons him to be devoured by wolves. Maurice is rescued by the town hermit Agathe, but Gaston convinces the village to send Maurice to an insane asylum. Belle discovers Maurice's predicament via a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save him. Arriving back in town, she reveals the Beast via the mirror, shocking the townsfolk and proving her father's sanity. Realizing Belle has fallen for the Beast, Gaston jealously has her thrown into the asylum carriage with Maurice, then rallies the villagers to slay the Beast. Belle tells Maurice about her mother's death, and the two escape.
Gaston attacks the depressed Beast, who regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He spares Gaston's life, but Gaston shoots the Beast from an unstable bridge; its collapse sends Gaston falling to his death. The Beast dies just as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate objects. As Belle tearfully professes her love to him, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, restoring the Beast and his servants to their human forms along with the villagers' memories. The film ends with Belle and the prince hosting a ball for the kingdom.
The film also features Thomas Padden as Chapeau, the prince's valet who has been transformed into a coat rack, and Clive Rowe as Cuisinier, the castle's head chef who has been transformed into a stove. Additionally, Sophie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen, and Carla Nella appear as the Village Lasses, a trio of women who fawn over Gaston and are jealous of Belle. Jimmy Johnston, Dean Street, and Alexis Loizon appear as Tom, Dick, and Stanley, a trio of men who are friends with Gaston and LeFou and serve as the former's henchmen. Adrian Schiller appears as Monsieur D'Arque, the sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to have Maurice institutionalized.[21] Gerard Horan appears as Monsieur Jean Potts, Mrs. Potts' husband and Chip's father. Haydn Gwynne appears as Clothilde, a fishmonger and Cogsworth's wife. Michael Jibson appears as the Tavern Keeper, the owner and keeper of Villeneuve's local tavern. Ray Fearon appears as Père Robert, Villeneuve's local chaplain who encourages Belle to borrow the books in the chapel's meager library. Zoe Rainey appears as Belle's mother, Maurice's late wife who contracted the plague and died when Belle was an infant. Gizmo appears as Frou-Frou, Maestro Cadenza's and Madame de Garderobe's pet Yorkshire Terrier who has been transformed into a footstool. Tom Turner[b] appears as the King, the prince's father who, following his wife's death, raised his son to be just as arrogant and selfish as he was. Harriet Jones appears as the Queen, the Prince's mother who died of an illness when he was a child. Dale Branston appears as Villeneuve's resident baker. Chris Andrew Mellon appears as Nasty Headmaster, the unnamed headmaster of an all-boys school in Villeneuve that disapproves of Belle teaching a young girl how to read. Vivian Parry appears as the Village Lasses' mother, an unnamed seamstress. Stephen Merchant was set to appear as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet, but his scenes were cut from the theatrical release of the film.[25]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical.[26][27] However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned".[28]
By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book.[29] Two months later, Bill Condon signed on to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos.[30] Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who directed Emma Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script.[31]
Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live-action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way.'"[32] Walt Disney Pictures President of Production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?"[33] The film's ending originally featured Gaston being cursed by the Enchantress, though the idea was scrapped.[34]
Casting[edit]
In January 2015, it was announced that Emma Watson had been cast as Belle, the female lead.[11] She was the first and only choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, who had previously run Warner Bros. which released the eight Harry Potter films that starred Watson as Hermione Granger.[33] Watson had previously been attached to star in Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation of the original fairy tale for Warner Bros.,[35] but the project never materialized.[11] Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle in the 1994 Broadway musical, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect",[36] while Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original 1991 animated film, said, "I think that if I were producing that movie, Emma Watson would've been my first choice for Belle. I was just really happy they went with Emma. She's got the intelligence, she's got the humor. I think she's going to be really, really special."[37] Watson was paid $3 million upfront, with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to the $758 million worldwide gross of Maleficent.[38]
Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were reported to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively,[12] and Watson confirmed their casting the next day on Twitter.[39][40] Idris Elba also auditioned for the role of Gaston.[41] The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière, and Cadenza, respectively.[15][16][17][18][19][20][23][42]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began on May 18, 2015, taking place at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, nearby in the village of Cranleigh, and in Lacock, Wiltshire.[15][43][44] The massive movie set of the fictional provincial town of Villeneuve (named after the author of the original fairy tale, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve) was inspired by the town of Conques in southern France and measured 28,787 square feet (2,670 m2).[45]
Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21.[46][47] Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that production had officially wrapped.[48] The castle in the film was inspired by the Château de Chambord in France.[49]
The Beast was portrayed with a "more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast." The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation.[7]
One concern was that one wrong step could lead to one of Stevens's steel stilts crushing one of Watson's feet, which could have severely disrupted production. To minimize that risk, the actors spent three months in pre-production and rigorously rehearsed their scenes. For the film's iconic dance scene, they initially practiced waltz steps on the ground, then Stevens learned how to walk on stilts, and then he learned how to waltz on stilts.[50]
Prior to the film's release, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days in the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones' character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases.[24]
Release[edit]
Theatrical[edit]
The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place as a Spencer House Royal World Charity Event in London on February 23, 2017.[81] The US premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast on YouTube.
A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017.[82] The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017.[83]
The film was re-released in New York City and Los Angeles for a one-week engagement starting December 1, 2017. The movie was an awards push as the 2017–18 awards season heated up.[84]
On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017.[15] The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015.[85]
On February 10, 2017, IMAX announced that the film would have an expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1, revealing 26% more picture, only in IMAX theatres.[86]
Home media[edit]
Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and Digital HD on June 6, 2017.[87] The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast.[88] The film regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release.[89] Overall, the film made a revenue of $85.1 million from home video sales with 4.3 million units sold, making it the second best-selling film of 2017 behind Moana.[90] Beauty and the Beast was released on 4K Blu-ray and on Digital Movie Copy 4K ULTRA HD Streamable Version Downloadable Format on March 10, 2020, concurrently along with the original animated feature film.[91]
Controversies[edit]
Gay character[edit]
Controversy arose after director Bill Condon said there was a "gay moment" in the film, when LeFou briefly waltzes with Stanley, one of Gaston's friends.[251] In a later interview with Vulture, Condon stated, "Can I just say, I'm sort of sick of this. Because you've seen the movie—it's such a tiny thing, and it's been overblown." Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly talked-about LeFou: "That was so important. We have interracial couples—this is a celebration of everybody's individuality, and that's what's exciting about it."[252] GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the move, stating, "It is a small moment in the film, but it is a huge leap forward for the film industry."[253]
In Russia, Vitaly Milonov agitated the culture minister for banning the film,[254] but instead it was given a 16+ rating (children under the age of 16 can only be admitted to see it in theaters with accompanying adults).[255] Additionally, a theater in Henagar, Alabama did not screen the film because of the subplot.[256] In Malaysia, the Film Censorship Board insisted the "gay moment" scene be cut, prompting an indefinite postponement of its release by Disney, followed by their decision to withdraw it completely if it could not be released uncensored.[257][258][259] The studio moved the release date to March 30, to allow more time for Malaysia's censor board to make a decision on whether or not to release the film without changes.[260] The distributors and producers then submitted an appeal to the Film Appeal Committee of Malaysia, which allowed the film to be released without any cuts and a P13 rating on the grounds that "the gay element was minor and did not affect the positive elements featured in the film".[261][262] In Kuwait, the film was withdrawn from cinemas by National Cinema Company, which owns most of the cinemas in the country. A board member of the company stated that the Ministry of Information's censorship department had requested it to stop its screening and edit it for things the Ministry deemed offensive.[263]
The film also received criticism over its portrayal of LeFou, as some felt that it was used as a way of teasing LGBTQ+ audiences without providing adequate representation, with his "exclusively gay moment" being his three seconds' dancing with another man at the end of the film.[264]
In response to the decision of making LeFou gay, Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter behind the 1991 animated film, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that "Was he in love with Gaston? No. He was just a toady and besotted with a person he could never be."[213]
Belle and the Beast's relationship[edit]
Disney has sought to portray Belle as an empowered young woman,[265] but a debate over whether it is possible for a captor to fall in love with their prisoner, and whether this is a problematic theme, has resulted.[266] As was the case with the original animated film, one argument is that Belle has Stockholm syndrome (a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity). Before signing on to the film, Emma Watson did study whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship with the Beast and concluded that she does not think the criticism fits this version of the fairy tale.[267][268] Watson described Stockholm syndrome as "where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor." She went on to assert that "Belle actively argues and disagrees with the Beast constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought", further adding that Belle defiantly "gives as good as she gets" before forming a friendship and eventual romance with the Beast.[269]
Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, who was responsible for defining the term "Stockholm syndrome", said he does not think Belle exhibits the trauma symptoms of prisoners with the syndrome because she does not experience a period of feeling that she is going to die.[270] Some therapists, while acknowledging that the pairing's relationship does not meet the clinical definition of Stockholm syndrome, argue that the relationship depicted is dysfunctional and abusive and does not model healthy romantic relationships for young viewers.[271][272] Following this viewpoint, Constance Grady of Vox stated that Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale originally written to prepare young girls in eighteenth-century France for arranged marriages, and that the power disparity is amplified in the Disney version.[273] Additionally, Anna Menta of Elite Daily remarked that the Beast does not apologize to Belle for imprisoning, hurting nor manipulating her, and that his treatment of her is not painted as wrong.[274]
Future[edit]
Shortly after the release of the film, Sean Bailey said that Walt Disney Pictures would "explore possible [live-action] spin-off and prequel scenarios" for animated and live-action Disney films, including Beauty and the Beast.[276] Emma Watson and Dan Stevens have both expressed interest in reprising their roles in a potential sequel or prequel to the film.[277][278]
On March 6, 2020, ABC Signature Studios announced that it was developing a limited series focused on Gaston and LeFou, for Disney+.[279] Luke Evans and Josh Gad were set to reprise their roles from the film and executive produce the series alongside Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, with Gad, Kitsis and Horowitz serving as showrunners and writers for the series.[279][280] Alan Menken was reported to be in talks to return as composer for the series,[279] which he confirmed in April.[281] The series was titled Little Town, which is a nod to the lyrics of the song "Belle" from the 1991 Beauty and the Beast film.[282][283] In June 2021, Brianna Middleton joined the cast as the female lead named Tilly.[284] In January 2022, Jelani Alladin and Fra Fee joined the cast to play Jean-Michel and Prince Benoit Berlioz, respectively.[285][286] In February 2022, Rita Ora and Sharon D. Clarke joined the cast, with the latter set to play Claire Lafayette.[287] Days later, it was announced the series was put on hold indefinitely due to creative and scheduling issues.[288][289]