‘Beauty And The Beast’ Spoilers: Director Bill Condon On Infusing Reality Into The Film

“Beauty and the Beast” director Bill Condon was initially hesitant to take on Disney’s live action movie adaptation because he thought the 1991 animated version was already the “perfect movie.”

However, Condon could not resist giving his own spin to the classical tale. He said that today’s technology can really help make inanimate objects appear realistic, so they had no problem creating a “photo-real version of a talking teacup on a practical set in a completely realistic live action format.”

Condon clarified that they did not set out to tell a different tale of “Beauty and the Beast,” and they stayed close to the heart of the original film.

“There have been some recent movies that have been top to bottom reinventions or stories as seen from another character’s point of view or something,” he told the Inquirer. “This is not that. What we wanted to do was bring the story more into reality, not create a new story.”

However, they did provide a better backstory for the main characters, such as Belle (Emma Watson) and Beast (Dan Stevens). “I hope that, because this movie is so loved, we’ll be able to answer questions that fans may not have even realized they had about Belle and about the Beast specifically, and how they came to be who they are today,” he said.

The same goes for Luke Evans’ villainous Gaston. The actor told Entertainment Weekly that his character will have several lines that were not included in the original movie. “The guys did at Disney reviewed all the transcripts and recordings, they’ve been able to go back through those hours and hours of recorded footage, and listen to lyrics that were written and never used, which are actually gems,” he shared. “For the audience who know the song immensely well — which I think is most people — you will hear a few new lines, which are really really special.”

“Beauty and the Beast” will hit cinemas on March 17, 2017.