Emma Watson's Belle may have trouble deciding between the slick Gaston and the ghastly prince turned beast.
Disney has cast Luke Evans as the self-obsessed brute Gaston and Dan Stevens as the cursed Beast in the new live-action "Beauty and the Beast," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Emma Watson will star opposite the dashing actors as Belle.
Evans recently starred in "Dracula Untold" and will next appear in the Tom Hiddleston film, "High-Rise." Stevens played the ill-fated Matthew Crawley for three seasons on "Downton Abbey" and is slated to star alongside John Travolta in "Criminal Activities" this June.
Bill Condon will direct the film, a re-telling of Disney's Oscar-nominated animated feature. The studio hired Stephen Chbosky, who directed Watson in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," to write a new script. Evan Spiliotopoulos turned in the original draft.
Disney has not confirmed whether the new movie will incorporate the musical numbers from the 1991 classic, but Watson's announcement in January seems to indicate it will.
"I'm finally able to tell you... that I will be playing Belle in Disney's new live-action Beauty and the Beast! It was such a big part of my growing up, it almost feels surreal that I'll get to dance to 'Be Our Guest' and sing 'Something There'. My six year old self is on the ceiling - heart bursting. Time to start some singing lessons. I can't wait for you to see it," she wrote on her Facebook page.
The "Beauty and the Beast" story comes from a French fairy tale about a young woman who agrees to live with the Beast in his palace in exchange for her father's release. She eventually falls in love with him and breaks the curse put upon him by a wicked fairy.
Production on "Beauty and the Beast" will start later this year. The film is slated to premiere in 2016.
