Emma Watson, better known as Hermione of the Harry Potter movie series, is all set to play Belle in Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” movie. This was confirmed by both the girl, who is ecstatic about landing a role in a tale which is as old as time itself, and the movie studio.
Watson wrote on Facebook, “I’m finally able to tell you… that I will be playing Belle in Disney’s new live-action Beauty and the Beast! It was such a big part of my growing up, it almost feels surreal that I’ll get to dance to ‘Be Our Guest’ and sing ‘Something There’. My six year old self is on the ceiling – heart bursting. Time to start some singing lessons. I can’t wait for you to see it.”
Disney has already brought several classics like “Alice in Wonderland,” “Sleeping Beauty” (via “Maleficent“) to life earlier. “Cinderella” is all set for a March release while “The Jungle Book” is in the pipeline. “Beauty and the Beast” will get under production later this year but the release date for it has not yet been mentioned.
The movie will be directed by Bill Condon of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ and “Part 2” and, most recently, of the The Fifth Estate fame.
Condon, who has hits like Dreamgirl under his belt, told that the movie will indeed be a musical featuring the 1991 animated film’s original Alan Menken and Howard Ashman songs, as well as new music from composer Menken.
“Technology, we hope, has finally caught up to that treatment of the story, so I think we’re all kind of excited to bring that brilliant, amazing score and beautiful story into three dimensions,” Condon said.
The 1991 animation movie by Disney along the same story was a huge hit which had grossed more than $424 million worldwide, counting Imax and 3-D re-releases. “It is also one of the few animated films to earn an Oscar nomination for best picture, and the only one to do so before the academy expanded the number of nominees in 2009,” it has been pointed out.
Other upcoming projects of Emma Watson include thrillers “Regression” and “Colonia.“