You wait for a live-action rendition of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and suddenly two come along at once – only this time, there’s a twist.
Whereas before we’ve clocked eyes on Hollywood’s long-standing case of double vision – Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman spring to a mind as a recent example – this alternate take on the fairytale classic hails from French filmmaker Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf, Silent Hill).
Finding Vincent Cassel and Spectre alum Léa Seydoux as the Beast and Belle, respectively, it appears that Gans is cooking up a darker interpretation of the famed legend. That’s judging by this most recent, haunting clip for Beauty and the Beast, which comes to us via The Film Stage and sees Cassel’s rampaging Beast deliver a chilling promise. Amélie star André Dussollier is also among the ensemble.
Beauty and the Beast is booked in for release on September 23. In terms of Bill Condon’s version, it’ll open on March 17, 2017 and speculation is rife that a brand new trailer is right around the corner.
1810. After the wreck of his ships, a financially-ruined merchant (Andre Dussollier) exiles himself in the countryside with his six children. Among them is Belle (Lea Seydoux), his youngest daughter, a joyful girl full of grace. One day, during an arduous journey, the merchant stumbles across the magical domain of the Beast (Vincent Cassel), who sentences him to death for stealing a rose. Feeling responsible for the terrible fate which has befallen her family, Belle decides to sacrifice herself and take her father’s place. At the Beast’s castle, it is not death that awaits Belle, but a strange life in which fantastical moments mingle with gaiety and melancholy. Every night, at dinner, Belle and the Beast sit down together. They learn about each other, taming one another like two strangers who are total opposites. When she has to repulse his amorous advances, Belle tries to pierce the mysteries of the Beast and his domain. And when night falls, the Beast’s past is revealed to her bit by bit in her dreams. It is a tragic story, which tells her that this solitary and fearsome being was once a majestic prince. Armed with her courage, ignoring every danger, and opening her heart, Belle manages to release the Beast from his curse. And in doing so, she discovers true love.