Frozen and “The Book of Mormon” star Josh Gad has just shared, via his Instagram account, an image that should delight fans eagerly awaiting Walt Disney Pictures’ live-action Beauty and the Beast. As you can see below, the cast is assembling and have joined Gad for a behind-the-scenes selfie! From left to right, the image features Gad, who plays Gaston’s sidekick, Lefou, The Guest‘s Dan Stevens, who plays the Beast, the Harry Potter franchise’s Emma Watson, who headlines as Belle, Dracula Untold and The Hobbit‘s Luke Evans, who stars as Gaston, and The Last of Robin Hood‘s Kevin Kline, who’ll be portraying crazy old Maurice.
The March 17, 2017 release is also set to feature Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, the feather duster. We’re still short a Lumiere, however an actor for the role should be announced very shortly as production starts next month at Shepperton Studios in London.
Eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards for the 1991 animated classic, will score the film, which will feature new recordings of the original songs in addition to several new songs written by Menken and Sir Tim Rice. Bill Condon will direct from a script by Stephen Chbosky, and the film will be produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
