Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises
Josh Gad is partly responsible for one of the most beloved Disney animated characters of all time. He’s the voice of Olaf in Frozen and the new short Frozen Fever out today and will reprise the role in the officially announced Frozen 2 whenever it may arrive. Now he’s going to play one of the most unlikable Disney animated characters. In the flesh.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, Gad is joining Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast remake as one of the few main human characters available: LeFou. In case you’ve forgotten who everyone is in the Best Picture-nominated animated version, he’s the little sidekick of the villain Gaston.
We recently learned that Luke Evans is set to portray Gaston, while Emma Watson will be Belle, Dan Stevens will be the Beast/Prince and presumably an actual (or more likely CGI) teapot and teacup and candlestick and clock as Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere and Cogsworth. The movie will be directed by Bill Condon.
This news comes just as the latest live-action Disney remake, Cinderella, hits theaters and a few days following an update on the studio’s live-action Dumbo movie, which will be directed by Tim Burton. Gad’s casting confirms, not that it needed to, that this Beauty and the Beast is indeed directly redoing the 1991 release, as LeFou was invented for that adaptation of the fairy tale.
I’m still assuming based on earlier word that this one will also be a musical, though I’m less sure after seeing the mostly tune-less Cinderella remake. It ought to be, though, especially with someone like Gad involved. He’s proven to have the goods on the Broadway stage and the soundtrack to Frozen. He would do an excellent job singing LeFou’s part of the song “Gaston.” See/hear the original below.
Beauty and the Beast is due in theaters sometime next year.
