Yes, we all know about the tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, blah blah blah blah blah, but did you know these thirteen things about disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast? So be our guest as we seperate man from monster and distract you from this subtly creepy kidnapping tale.
13. Angela Lansbury, the voice of Mrs. Potts, thought that another character would be better suited to sing the ballad “Beauty and the Beast”. The director asked her to make at least one recording to have for a backup if nothing else worked, and that one recording ended up in the film.
12. The majority of the sculptures seen in the castle are different earlier versions of the Beast.
11. In the 1930s and again in the 1950s, Walt Disney attempted to adapt Beauty and the Beast (1991) into a feature but could not come up with a suitable treatment, so the project was shelved. It wasn’t until The Little Mermaid (1989) became hugely successful that they decided to try it a third time.
10. In Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s “The Story of Beauty and the Beast,” – the original version of the tale – the prince was not turned into a beast for being selfish and unloving, but because he refused to marry his evil fairy godmother.
9. The smoke seen during the transformation at the end is actually real smoke, not animated. It was originally used in The Black Cauldron (1985) and was re-used for Beauty and the Beast.
8. Many scenes were storyboarded but never animated. Those include a scene where Gaston visits the asylum and a scene where the Beast is seen dragging the carcass of an animal he killed. Both were considered too gruesome for the film and the ideas were dropped. However, an animal’s skeleton can just barely be seen in the corner shadows of the West Wing.
7. Jackie Chan performed the voice acting and singing for the Beast in the Chinese (Mandarin) dub of the film.
6. By the time Alan Menken and Howard Ashman won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, Ashman had already died. Ashman’s longtime romantic partner, Bill Lauch, accepted the award on his behalf.
5. HIDDEN MICKEY: At seperate moments in the film, there are 3 droplets of water, a trio of stones, and three circles that appear in the snow that form the Classic Mickey head.
4. The role of Cogsworth was written specifically with John Cleese in mind but he turned it down.
3. Computer technology was considered for the rooftop fight and the forest chase, but the primitive state of the technology only allowed time to use it for the ballroom scene.
2. The film was previewed at the New York Film Festival in September 1991 in a “Work-In-Progress” format. Approximately 70% of the footage was the final color animation. The other 30% consisted of storyboard reels, rough animation pencil tests, clean-up animation pencil tests, and computer animation tests of the ballroom sequence. According to producer Don Hahn, the audience gave the film a strong, overwhelming standing ovation.
1. In 2001 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast, they added an extra seven minutes to the final film which included a scene where the Castle is preparing for the dinner and dance. The Disney productions got all the original animating and drawing group to complete this scene, which is available to watch on the 2001 Disney DVD and VHS, and any further re release onward.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
G | 1h 24min | Animation, Family, Fantasy | 22 November 1991 (USA)
A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman’s love.
Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Writers: Linda Woolverton (animation screenplay by), Brenda Chapman (story by)
Stars: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Jesse Corti
