Update: Entertainment Weekly has now rolled out a further seven images for Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast. You can find them all up above.
Original story: Beauty and the Beast is by no means the only Disney fairytale in line for a modern overhaul – just this week, we caught wind of a Snow White reboot entering the early stages of development – but with Dan Stevens and Harry Potter‘s Emma Watson attached to the title roles, it’s undoubtedly one of the most anticipated.
Pegged for release on March 17, Entertainment Weekly has today peeled back the velvety curtain on our first look at the Downton Abbey star as Disney’s towering Beast. Those leaked photos of Stevens on set simply don’t do Beauty and the Beast justice; EW’s cover is an elegant tease of how Bill Condon’s finished product will look in a few months’ time, as our monstrous prince shares a dance with Watson’s Belle.
Chatting to EW, the British actress revealed that she was overjoyed to land the coveted gig, stating, “I can’t even think how many times I watched it as a child. I knew all the words by heart. I knew all the songs by heart.”
Watson and Stevens may anchor the fairytale as the titular, lovestruck pair, but Bill Condon and Disney have assembled quite the stellar cast to fill out Beauty and the Beast. Chief among them are Ian McKellen and Ewan McGregor, who are on board as as Cogsworth and Lumiere, respectively. Elsewhere, Luke Evans will play the part of Gaston, Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts., Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette and Kevin Kline as Belle’s father, Maurice. Josh Gad and Stanley Tucci also star.
Beauty and the Beast is set to hit theaters March 17, 2017.
