UPDATE: Beauty needs a Beast
There are murmurs - quiet, excitable murmurs - that Ryan Gosling could potentially be taking on the role as the Beast in the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. According to industry website, Tracking Board, Gosling is being courted for the role by Disney, and could star opposite Emma Watson in the highly-anticipated remake. Gosling opposite Emma? Have all our wildest dreams come true?
Original story:
Just when you think life couldn't get any more magical for ELLE's December cover girl (well, she did go to Hogwarts), it's confirmed that she is to be transformed into a Disney princess.
Emma Watson announced yesterday that she is to play Belle in the upcoming remake of Beauty and the Beast.
Writing on her Facebook page, the actress revealed: 'I’m finally able to tell you that I will be playing Belle in Disney’s new live-action ‘Beauty and the Beast’!'It was such a big part of my growing up, it almost feels surreal that I’ll get to dance to ‘Be Our Guest’ and sing ‘Something There’. 'My six-year-old self is on the ceiling — heart bursting. Time to start some singing lessons. I can’t wait for you to see it. Emma xx.'
Beauty and the Beast is the latest Disney classic to get the live-action treatment – see recent box office hit Maleficent and the upcoming Cinderella - and will be directed by Twilight's Bill Condon.
The announcement comes just days after Emma launched the next phase of the UN's initiative for gender equality, HeForShe, at the World Economic Summit in Davos.
While we cannot wait to hear her rendition of Be Our Guest, talk at ELLE HQ is of the yet-to-be-cast Beast. Who would you like to see play him? Answers on a postcard – or, indeed, a tweet at @ELLEUK.
