...just kidding! Someone asked me the other day if any animators were involved in the making of the upcoming live action version of Beauty & the Beast. The answer is no, and that's how it should be.
We did our animated film way back, and we are thrilled to see how beloved it is to this day.
The new movie will have to stand on its own, and judging by the trailers, it looks like it will.
Luke Evans as Gaston is a great choice. He sure has the looks and the acting chops...though he doesn't look like "the size of a barge". But that won't matter.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing the live action version, in part because my friend Alexis Loizon is in it. (Alexis played Gaston in Paris in the musical on stage.) In the film he portrays the character of Stanley. You see him on the lower left in this film frame.
I can't help but remembering my first scene for the movie. Gaston, admiring his reflection. Originally I had animated him with a much larger jaw and a mustache. After reviewing the pencil test, I was told that the animation was fine, but Gaston wasn't handsome enough.
It took me a while to grasp the character's concept, but in the end I understood he had be drawn as a handsome dude.
Gosh...all that seems soo long ago!
For some of my Gaston pencil tests go here:
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2012/01/gaston-pencil-tests.html
Andreas did see The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings from Peter Jackson.
ReplyDeleteI think Gaston he looks like in the original story of La Belle et la Bete in the original story of the Franch version in the 1940's
ReplyDeleteDear Andreas Deja,
ReplyDeleteBack in those days you also met the Dutch artist Daan Jippes. In the Dutch Comic Museum we are currently working on a large exhibition about his work. He told me that you were enthusiastic about some of his storyboards (probably done for Mouseworks) and acquired them. I am taking this blunt opportunity to ask you if scans could somehow be made available to show in our exhibition. If so, could you please contact the museum through this e-mail address: info@stripmuseum.nl
Your response is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards from the Netherlands,
Jan-Willem de Vries
(from the Dutch Comic Museum)
www.stripmuseum.nl
Love your drawings of Gaston from that mirror scene. In fact, they are rotating as my desktop wallpaper for inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered about that great bit you animated with Gaston flipping through Belle's book while holding it sideways ... did you mean for that action to play up Gaston's illiteracy or for it to be a wink to a Playboy centerfold?
ReplyDeleteI used to get really worked up about these live action remakes, but I'm not bothered any more because they come and go in a few weeks. The animated films really last, I think.
ReplyDeleteFor example, who remembers the 1996 version of 101 Dalmatians? Does anybody still care about it?
Will I love live action remakes like Cinderella 2014 or Maleficent 2013 and Alice in Wonderland 2010 but sometimes that go to far and I don't like it everything makes me scares and I was 17 wen Alice in Wonderland came out and now I'm 23 I'm sorry to say this but thay should made this before but Beauty and the Beast was filming in London with Emma Watson in December 2012 to August 2013 just after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Theaters on July 2011 I don't know if I'm correct.
DeleteI don't like thay do live action for remakes it's destroying all the masterpiece we loved like Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and now Beauty and the Beast, I think 6 live action movies that's enough for now.
ReplyDeleteI remember how excited I was over Beauty and the Beast in 1991....this version I can wait till it's on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteAndreas,
ReplyDeleteWould you happen to use one of the old Disney animation desks, or would one of your followers of the blog use one?
I am currently using a self- build desk for my 2d animation work which was quite crudely built by myself to get the desk up and running.
I would like to re-build the desk to Disney spec., so here is my query, have you blogged about your desk or would you be able to do an indepth blog with measurements and detailed images, so that I may build one. Or if someone had plans to how one gets built, that too eould be awesome.
Many Thanks, Geoff
I have an odd question. As one of the artists on the classic 1991 Beauty and the Beast, can you definitively say what color Belle's eyes are supposed to be? Maybe it sounds insignificant, but it seems to be the feature of hers that is altered most frequently. I've heard (any read many online) arguments where some are sure her eyes are brown, some are sure they are green, and some settle in the middle with hazel. And of course the merchandizing is all over the place. I just know things like this are carefully chosen, and I feel like it is a disservice to the original artists to see constant variations. If you could clear it up, I would greatly appreciate it. It's something I wonder about often.
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy your blog! Look forward to every post.
Andreas, do you ever take concern in the idea of these live-action remakes being made because Disney thinks that their animated originals can't stand on their own merits anymore (maybe because they're 2D animated)?
ReplyDeleteOf course we all know that the reason the 1991 original was so critically acclaimed back in the day was because it was already a good movie, and the fact that it was animated didn't matter.
No one does live action remakes like Gaston!
ReplyDelete