Anyone who was concerned that the live action Beauty and the Beast movie would be a flop can stop worrying. The film notched the sixth-highest opening weekend of all-time by taking in over $174 in its first frame, and it's on pace to easily be Disney's most successful live action reboot yet. The film's success owes a lot to its impressive cast, especially Dan Stevens and Emma Watson, who sing and dance their way through the spectacle. But how much of it was real and how much was movie magic? Can Dan Stevens really sing?
Despite his face as the Beast being computer generated and performed through motion capture, that really is Stevens' voice you hear belting out the movie's famous tunes. The actor apparently had done a bit of singing in his youth, but it had been a long time since he had actually sung when the time came to train his voice for the film. "Singing was a relatively new thing to me," the 34-year-old told People. "I’d sung at school and when I was younger, but in my 20s I [hadn’t] sung as extensively so reengaging my voice, retraining the voice, was a big challenge." Check out Stevens in action below, singing alongside Watson (who also sang for real) in a scene from the film.
We are just days away from the highly-anticipated debut of Disney’s newest live-action film "Beauty and the Beast." Emma Watson stars as Belle while Dan Stevens takes on the role of the Beast.
Stevens recently stopped by ABC News’ “Popcorn with Peter Travers.”
Here are 5 things we learned about Stevens
1. He learned to walk and dance on stilts for his role as the Beast
“Emma is small. She’s shorter than me. She’s a petite lady. And that extra 10 inches just accentuated the height,” Stevens said. He added that the stilts required some getting used to.
“She’s a great dancer but she was terrified of me that I was going to break her toes in these contraptions that I was wearing,” said Stevens. “Fortunately we learned the dance on the ground. As I always say to my kids, if you think you can fly, always test it taking off from the ground. So we learned it on the ground and then worked our way up to these stilts,” he said. Then they found their rhythm.
“Once we got the footwork down, the dancing on the stilts was surprisingly easy. I thought it was going to be a lot more tragic than it actually was," he remarked. "But once we broke through that sort of fear barrier, it was fantastic. There’s something about the waltz that we had to learn and the way that dance is designed to make you feel, this whirling ecstasy, it’s fantastic. Even on stilts.”
2. Why the prince was turned into a beast
“He’s a rich kid, the son of a billionaire, living in his tower, treating women as objects. He’s not a very nice man really," Stevens said. "He doesn’t really understand love on a sort of elemental level. He thinks these sort of play things can come and go and it’ll be fine. He has a sense of entitlement."
3. For the first time, the Beast gets his own special song
In many of the princess movies, the princess gets her big moment to belt out a rousing number. But this time, a special song was penned by songwriter Alan Menken for the Beast. Menken is best known for his scores for previous Disney films such as "Aladdin," "The Little Mermaid" and "Pocahontas." Menken also scored the animated version of "Beauty and the Beast."
He may play a narcissistic, testosterone-fuelled baddie in Beauty and the Beast, but in real life, Luke Evans was bowled over by Emma Watson's "brilliant" portrayal of Belle as a "strong, 21st century woman".
The actor takes on brutish love rival Gaston in Disney's live-action adaptation, and speaking to Digital Spy on the set of Noel Clarke's upcoming thriller 10 x 10, he said: "I'm very proud of her achievement in the film - not just her singing ability, but how she's portrayed Belle, and how she's brought her into a 21st century, strong woman."
The Girl on the Train star has a background in musical theatre and explained that, while singing as Gaston wasn't easy, it was a "total joy" to accomplish.
"I wouldn't say it was easy singing as Gaston, but it was very enjoyable," he continued. "I love singing, and Gaston's songs are so great, and they're huge numbers, and so funny. It was just a total joy."
Meanwhile, Luke will star opposite True Detective's Kelly Reilly in Suzi Ewing's first feature-length film 10 x 10 - written by Brotherhood's Noel Clarke
Game of Thrones—George R. R. Martin is also thinking ahead anxiously to the second season of the show based on his novels. In this case, he's worried about how with show will fare now that the central figure of Eddard Stark, played by Sean Bean, has been killed off. Martin is feeling unnerving parallels to a series he used to write for, Beauty and the Beast. "Linda Hamilton decided to leave after the second season, and so we killed off her character right at the beginning at the third season and the ratings just went through the floor," Martin said at the Golden Globes. "People hated it and the show was done after that."
Eddard Stark with snuffed in the penultimate episode of season 1, following the storyline established in the novel. "We've only had one episode after Sean's character died and, well, we'll find out how it affects things," Martin said. "It was a big shock to a lot of people and it was interesting to see the response to it. It's something I did, you know, 16 years ago when the book came out. So it wasn't a secret, of course, but I could see the shock of it in the emails I got and on the blogs and the headlines. Time will tell how it affects the show, but hopefully the rest of the characters and their stories have become compelling to people... but I have to admit I worry about it a little after the experience with Beauty and the Beast and Linda Hamilton." I don't think George has much to worry about, do you?
SIR Paul McCartney’s Christmas return to Liverpool sold out within two hours yesterday, after “unprecedented” demand.
But the huge response to the Echo Arena concert in December left some fans who had queued for hours disappointed and ticketless.
. At least 250 more joined throughout the night and early morning. The vast majority of tickets – limited to four per person – sold out within an hour.
Dominique Smith, 28, from Kirkby, among the last to secure tickets at the Box Office, said: “I’ve dragged my three friends along with me and we’ve been here since 5.30am. I should have been in work at 8am, but I’ve taken holiday leave to be here.”
When the girls eventually got to the front of the queue, they were told the only remaining tickets were the expensive ones at £95.
Tim Banfield, general manager of the Echo Arena, said they had tried hard to strike a successful balance between online, phones and in-person.
He said: “It’s Paul McCartney and it’s Liverpool, so we didn’t expect anything other than massive demand and a sell-out.”
Sir Paul Mccartney Urges Fans To Support Tiger Campaign
Sir PaulMccartney has thrown his support behind a global campaign to save wild tigers.
The avid animal rights activist and longtime vegetarian is lending his name to TigerTime, which was established in June (11) by conservationist David Shepherd in a bid to raise awareness of the dwindling numbers of tigers left in the wild.
And theBeatles legend has urged his fans to sign a petition supporting the campaign.
He says, "Losing the wild tiger would be unforgivable. We need people power to save it! Please get behind this fabulous initiative. Whatever you do, wherever you live, your voice matters! Every signature makes the campaign stronger."
Shepherd adds, "The vast majority of people are shocked to the core when they hear that there are only 3,200 wild tigers left on earth. It is a shockingly low figure. Think of it this way - every wild tiger on earth could stand on just one soccer pitch! Getting that message out to people is vital if we are to save the wild tiger.
"Paul MCCartney has a huge following around the world. His support will help us to reach out to people in ever greater numbers. We are asking everyone, from every part of the world, from young to old to add their signature to our cause."
Colin Firth will star in The Railway Man, an adaptation of British officer Eric Lomax’s book of the same name, which recounts his torture by the Japanese during the construction of the "death railway" during World War II. Usually we'd make an attempt at some lighthearted commentary here, but, you know, "death railway." Grade: A-
The Carrie Diaries — Candace Bushnell’s young-adult Sex and the City prequel revolving around Carrie Bradshaw’s senior year of high school — has officially been picked up for the CW, with Gossip Girl’s Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage producing. Great news for people who love sexy puns about the rigors of the college application process. Grade: B+ Ellen DeGeneres has sold a pitch to NBC for a multicamera comedy about dueling sisters, with her wife Portia de Rossi slated to play one of the sisters. Just to make things awkward for everyone, Anne Heche will play the other sister (not really). Grade: B
Ryan Seacrest is in talks to take over MTV Network’s VH1 Soul, a little-loved cable channel broadcasting soul and R&B music videos, along with AEG and CAA. It’s not yet clear what the plans for the network are, but Seacrest would possibly do production and on-air work, as well as provide connections to talent. VH1 Soul seems like a strange fit for the omnipresent American Idol host, until you consider the little known fact that Martha and the Vandellas were originally known as Martha and the Ryan Seacrests. Grade: C-
Beauty and the Beast will be remade once again, this time as a one-hour fantasy drama for ABC, with Human Target’s Jonathan E. Steinberg attached to executive produce and write the screenplay. Anthropomorphic candles, call your agents! Grade: D
Nick Stoller, the writer/director (and friend of Jason Segel) behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets, has landed a single-camera comedy at CBS called Hot Mess. A loosely autobiographical ensemble sitcom about a guy who works a cubicle away from the girl who broke his heart, it’s Stoller’s first television work since his early days on Judd Apatow’s Undeclared. When asked why he decided to work with CBS, Stoller blushingly confessed his lifelong admiration of the work of Angus T. Jones. Grade: A
Jay Baruchel, who just so happens to be another Undeclared alum, is keeping his writing side gig flourishing. Along with his partner Jesse Chabot, he’s landed the job of adapting Canadian author Dave Bidini’s 2005 memoir Baseballissimo, about life in Nettuno, Italy, where American soldiers introduced baseball in 1944. The best part of this: The book was optioned by none other than Rush frontman Geddy Lee. Seeing as Baruchel’s from Montreal, the only way this thing could get more Canadian is if the movie's audiences get drenched, Double Dare-style, in maple syrup while sitting in the theater. Grade: B
