“Beauty” has found its Beast.
The new live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” which cast Emma Watson as Belle, will also star “Downton Abbey’s” Dan Stevens as the Beast.
Watson herself welcomed her co-star on board after the news was reported in the Hollywood Reporter.
The animated Disney character was voiced by Robby Benson in the 1991 film.
The film, to be directed by Bill Condon (“Gods and Monsters,” the final two “Twilight” films), also named its Gaston, the conniving lout who pursues Belle, though she resists his advances. He’ll be played by Luke Evans, a musical theater veteran who starred as Bard the Bowman in Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” films.
After Watson tweeted her congratulations, Evans immediately responded with a side-by-side set of photos of him and the animated character. The resemblance was striking.
Now, if only Disney will cast Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth and the rest, we’ll have a real movie on our hands.
No release date for “Beauty and the Beast” has been announced, and filming has yet to begin.