Entertainment Weekly has peeled back the velvet curtain on Beauty and the Beast to unveil five all-new images for Disney’s fairytale epic, while there’s also a brief interview with Emma Watson reflecting on her time spent in “Belle boot camp.”
From the cavernous halls of Beast’s castle to an action shot of Watson’s Belle riding through the enchanted forest, this latest batch of pictures for Bill Condon’s remake is truly something to behold, and previous trailers have showcased just how seamless Belle and the Beast’s (Dan Stevens) interactions can be. It’s a credit to Disney’s VFX team, essentially, but as Emma Watson reveals to EW, the actors had to go endure preparations of their own before the cameras started rolling.
“I kind of went into this boot camp for three months before we started shooting, which was singing four times a week, dancing five times a week, riding [horses] three times a week,” she said. “Yeah, I did Belle boot camp.”
Following in the footsteps of Maleficent, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella – the latter of which initially caught Watson’s eye, before she ultimately committed to the role of Belle – Beauty and the Beast is the latest live-action fairytale to tumble off the Mouse House’s production line. If Jungle Book‘s record-shattering haul of $966 million is any indication, moviegoers across the world are lapping up these new, modernized interpretations of Disney classics gone by, but can Beast reach the same dizzying box office heights in a few weeks’ time?
Joining Watson and Stevens for the fantastical adventure are Ewan McGregor (Lumière), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth), Audra McDonald (Gaderobe), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Plumette), Josh Gad (LeFou) and finally, Luke Evans as the gleefully pompous Gaston.
Beauty and the Beast will cordially invite moviegoers the world over to experience Bill Condon’s live-action reimagining on March 17th. Down below, you’ll find a featurette designed to chronicle the creative process involved in overhauling Disney’s 1991 classic – itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s classic – into an all-new, and downright beautiful tale of romance.
