Live-Action ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Producer Promises “Classic” Approach

By this point, we all know just about everything there is to know about Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. We know who’s directing it, who’s writing it, who’s scoring it, and, just recently, who’s starring in it. Now, it’s all a question of which direction the film will take.

Collider recently spoke to Todd Lieberman.  Lieberman will be producing the film with David Hoberman through their Mandeville Films banner. They are best known for producing USA Network’s Monk and films like The Fighter, Warm Bodies, The Muppets, and Muppets Most Wanted. Lieberman and Hoberman are also the producers of The Divergent Series: Insurgent, which will hit theaters this Friday, and it’s upcoming sequel Allegiant Part 1.

First, Lieberman elaborated that both Beauty and Allegiant will begin filming on the same day: May 18 (Beauty and the Beast will begin filming at Shepperton Studios in London).

When asked about the story, he said the film will take a more “classic” approach to the material (similar to the live-action Cinderella). That being said, he also noted that the film will introduce “new elements and new characters.”

Part of Cinderella‘s success is that it takes a more traditional approach, with a lean towards Downtown Abbey-style British costume drama. So, it would appear that Beauty and the Beast may take that same approach as well (but, with an added dash of the revisionist angle applied to the adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent). This is not to say that all of future Disney films will do this (Putting Tim Burton on Dumbo is a clear sign that that particular film’s story will definitely be given a twist.)

The film will be directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Breaking Dawn Part 1 & 2, The Fifth Estate) from a screenplay by author and filmmaker Stephan Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower). David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce through their Mandeville Films banner. The cast consists of Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, and Kevin Kline.

The film will have a musical component.  Alan Menken, who scored the original 1991 animated classic, will score the soundtrack for this film. The soundtrack will also feature new recordings of the original songs and new songs written by Menken and Tim Rice.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to this version of Beauty and the Beast?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes