With the majority of leading parts already filled, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Disney had all but finished casting duties on its upcoming live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Yesterday brought news that Ewan McGregor was in negotiations to play Lumiere, meaning that the Scottish actor would join an ensemble cast that consists of Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, and Luke Evans, not to mention Dan Stevens and Emma Watson as the titular, besotted duo.
However, Variety brings word that there is still space for The Hunger Games star Stanley Tucci, who has reportedly signed on a new character known as Cadenza, the grand piano in Bill Condon’s modern rendition. Aside from that not, not much was disclosed about the nature of this novel addition, though Variety’s report claims Cadenza is a neurotic maestro — not unlike Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman, then.
Speaking of which, the actor will reprise his role as the eccentric commentator for what we assume will be the final time when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 swoops into theaters in the fall. Granted, there have been murmurings of potential spinoffs, but we’ll hedge our bets until November before gauging Tucci’s potential future in the series.
As for Beauty and the Beast, Tucci and McGregor will be joined by Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Audra MacDonald as Garderobe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Quiet the cast, when you couple this list with those mentioned above.
Beauty and the Beast is still a ways away from its launch date, with Disney pegging the live-action film for release on March 17, 2017. As such, production isn’t set to get underway until late in the year, and it’ll be some time yet before we see the fruits of Condon’s fantastical labor.
