Wondering what classic fairytale they’ll re-imagine next? You don’t have to wonder long. Coming to a theatre near you on March 4th is a Beauty and the Beast remake entitled Beastly. Set in the modern world of glitz and excess, a spoiled teenager gets cursed and becomes as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside.
Beastly is based on a popular young adult novel of the same name by Alex Flinn. It’s a modern re-telling of the fairytale, from the beast’s perspective. A spoiled, rich and handsome teen humiliates the wrong girl at his high school and is cursed with ugliness until he can find someone who can see through his exterior and love him. The novel was adapted for the screen by Daniel Barnz, who also directed. You might recognize Barnz as the writer/director of Phoebe in Wonderland.
Up and coming young actor Alex Pettyfer stars as the beast, aka Kyle. Pettyfer can be seen in the much-buzzed about sci fi film I Am Number Four, which comes out in theatres on Feb. 18th. Pettyfer is the biggest name in this teen supernatural romance, but Neil Patrick Harris (of How I Met Your Mother) and a very emaciated Mary-Kate Olsen co-star. CBS Films helmed this modern fairytale, and we can only hope it’s better than some of the other films they’ve released in the past year, including recent release The Mechanic and last year’s The Back-up Plan.
I’m wondering if a scroll-tattooed Pettyfer can really be as ugly as the beast needs to be. If the movie trailer and stills are any indication, even “uglified” he still looks interesting, and in certain circles he’d probably be considered sexy (think bikers, goths, body-tattoo artists). Hopefully this fairytale modernization won’t lose the magic of its source material.