How does one spice up an animated “tale as old as time” that’s already got a live-action remake? The answer’s quite simple: you either make a sequel or a spinoff. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has the latter option currently in development, which is intriguing, even if you don’t favor the 2017 re-do. Unfortunately, the one idea I wish they’d adapt doesn’t seem to be happening; so much like the cancelled gender-swapped Holes reboot, it’s time to dig up some dirt on what could have been.
Gaston Is The Latest Disney Villain Getting A Live-Action Reimagining
Per reporting out of Deadline, Gaston is currently cooking in the House of Mouse’s kitchen. Shang-Chi writer Dave Callaham is the latest scribe to undertake the project; after the writing team of Kate Herron and Briony Redman crafted a previous pass.
There’s a predictable level of secrecy surrounding this project, so we don’t know too much. However, here’s the vague expectation for this Beauty and the Beast-inspired project:
…sources say it will be a new and original version with a new actor, and that the film will have “swashbuckling” tones to it. Insiders say the studio is high on the idea.
Judging by that description, it sounds like we’re seeing more of a Cruella-style revamp. Meaning we might not see the stereotypical meathead who doesn’t know how to read, but rather a more heroic reinvention.
I’m totally up for that sort of thing. While Luke Evans apparently won’t be part of the fun, I hope that Disney repeats its inspired Beauty and the Beast 30th: a 30th Anniversary Celebration casting and brings back Joshua Henry. At the same time, my optimism gives way to memories of another story that could have forged a fresh path and kept Luke Evans in the game.
Disney Already Had A Perfect Gaston-centric Beauty And The Beast Sequel Pitch
I know, it’s crazy that somehow Disney didn’t want to tease a second installment to a picture that’d eventually be the second-highest-grossing movie of the year. However, co-writer Evan Spiliotopoulos revealed during The Wrap‘s Q&A for Beauty and the Beast in 2017 that an earlier iteration of the script did tease what could have been:
The idea was not that [Gaston] died in the end, but the enchantress would come and he would be cursed as the new beast.
Not too long after, the potential Disney+ prequel series named Little Town was announced. The idea had some decent traction, and cast quite a few characters, before we saw Gaston’s past adventures indefinitely delayed in 2022, only to quietly cancelled last summer.
The “swashbuckling” Gaston adventure is bound to pull from its partial lack of sleeves; one of the greatest being that we see this film actually go into production. At the same time, I’d still love to learn what a literally primeval version of this Disney heavy would have looked like, and what he would have done to become human again.
For now, if you want to sing along with the exploits of this devourer of five dozen eggs a day, Beauty and the Beast’s animated and live-action forms are currently streaming on Disney+. (And since it’s the holidays, don’t skip the 1997 direct-to-video sequel The Enchanted Christmas – which features Tim Curry as a deliciously evil pipe organ. What other reason could you need to say yes?)
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