Disney is determined to remake every one of their beautiful 2D cartoons into live action – Mulan, Pete’s Dragon, Alice in Wonderland 2: Into the Looking Glass, Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, The Jungle Book and a movie based on Cruella De Vil are all in development while Cinderella, Maleficent and the original Alice in Wonderland have already been released.
One of the more interesting redos is Beauty and the Beast. It’s cast Harry Potter’s Emma Watson as Belle, the Beauty, and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens as the Beast. Fast Six‘s Luke Evans will be the villanous Gaston.
The supporting cast is near finalised with the addition of Sir Ian McKellen as Cogsworth (the clock pictured above). McKellen is legendary for playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies and Magneto in the X-Men franchise. Most recently he’s starred in Mr Holmes as an elderly Sherlock Holmes and as himself, hilariously, in George Ezra’s Listen to the Man music video.
Love Actually’s Emma Thompson will be Mrs Potts, though no word on who is doing vocal work for the lamp Lumiere. Kevin Kline will be playing Maurice, Belle’s father.
Beauty and the Beast will hit cinemas March 2017, nearly exactly two years after Cinderella.
