'Beauty and the Beast' 2017 Movie Cast News: Emma Watson Sings in New Teaser Clip; Explains New Version of Belle
The anticipated live-action adaptation of Disney's animated film "Beauty and the Beast" will finally hit theaters next month, and both young and old Disney fans are getting excited as a new movie teaser has just been released. The trailer features Emma Watson (Belle) singing the very familiar introduction song of the animated movie.
Like the 1991 animation, the song starts with the townsfolk greeting the young girl "Bonjour" (a French term for "Good day" or "Hello"). While Belle proceeds to sing and stroll across the village, several onlookers are making remarks about her.
The clip is totally reminiscient of the original animation, and the song that was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken was still used - though the new version has slight tweaks in its lyrics and dialogue.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Watson talked about this new version of Belle found in the upcoming live adaptation.
Although Watson's Belle is similar to the animated Belle in a sense that she is still disdained by many townsfolk because of her odd, quirky bookworm persona, Watson said that the character's intelligence and independence will be more magnified in the upcoming movie.
The new Belle introduced a working washing machine that allowed little girls to have more free time and take reading sessions with her. "They don't think women should read and it goes further than that," Watson tells EW. "They are deeply suspicious of intelligence."
Watson joins Dan Stevens who plays the Beast, Kevin Kline as Maurice (Belle's father), and Luke Evans as Gaston.
Several appliances and pieces of furniture will also come to life in the upcoming movie. Ewan McGregor will play Lumiere, the candlestick in the Beast's palace, while Ian McKellen plays Cogsworth, a talking clock and Lumiere's best friend. Emma Thompson plays Mrs. Potts, the motherly talking tea kettle in the palace.
"Beauty and the Beast" is directed by Bill Condon and premieres on March 17 in U.S. theaters.