20 facts you might not know about 'Beauty and the Beast'

“Beauty and the Beast” is based on an 18th-century fairy tale, so the story has been around for a bit. After Walt Disney had his first significant success with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, he started thinking about what to do next. “Beauty and the Beast” was one of the stories he considered. It never happened, though, and a live-action 1946 version of the story may have put the kibosh on his plans.

When Disney returned to the idea of doing “Beauty and the Beast” in the late ‘80s, Michael Eisner decided to do things a bit differently. Traditionally, animated movies didn’t have screenwriters. Instead, stories were concocted with storyboards by artists. “Beauty and the Beast” broke the mold with Disney hiring Linda Woolverton to write the screenplay. She became the first woman to be the credited screenwriter of an animated feature.

Originally, English director Richard Purdum was going to direct after being recommended by Richard Williams, who had directed the animated portions of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” However, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg nixed all of Purdum’s ideas and asked him to start from scratch. Instead, he resigned. In his place, Disney hired the duo of Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who were making their feature debut.

When Purdum was working on the movie, it wasn’t a musical. Katzenberg wanted another musical after the success of “The Little Mermaid.” This led to the duo of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken being hired to write the songs for the film.

Ashman and Menken were quite the successful duo for Disney. In addition to doing the music for “The Little Mermaid,” they were working on “Aladdin” when they were also asked to work on “Beauty and the Beast.” It was pretty taxing on Ashman, though. He was dealing with complications related to AIDS, and Ashman would pass away before “Beauty and the Beast” was released. Ashman was only 40.

The fairy tale version of “Beauty and the Beast” is about, well, a beauty and a beast. It’s basically a two-hander. Disney decided to flesh out the story a bit. They added all the characters of the various enchanted household objects, as well as the villain Gaston.

These days, celebrities voice animated characters. That wasn’t the case back in the ‘90s, though. Instead of hiring a celebrity, Disney turned to Broadway actress Paige O’Hara. She was chosen over Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, because her voice was a little more “womanly” and a little less “girly.”

A few names considered for Beast included Val Kilmer, Laurence Fishburne, and Mandy Patinkin, who would end up winning a Tony for “Evita.” Ultimately, none of them got the role. Instead, Robby Benson was cast as Beast.

John Cleese was considered for the role of Cogsworth, though he decided to take a role in “Fievel Goes West” instead. David Ogden Stiers got the role instead. Meanwhile, we got a pretty even switch in Julie Andrews being considered for Mrs. Potts but the role ultimately going to Angela Lansbury.

Katzenberg wanted something different for Gaston. Namely, he wanted him to be handsome. Normally, Disney villains were designed to be spooky and creepy looking. Gaston was designed to be a vain narcissist and a rival to Beast for the heart of Belle, though. Thus, the handsomeness.

What goes into the creation of a beast? Well, in this instance, you start with the head and horns of a bison. Then, you give him the arms and torso of a bear. Finally, you throw in the lower body of a wolf. Oh, and don’t forget the teeth of a lion. There’s your Beast.

LeFou is the sidekick of Gaston, and like many a villain’s sidekick he’s put upon. His name is designed to sound like “The Fool” in English, but it’s also a fitting name in French as well. “Le Fou” means “The Madman.”

Traditionally, Disney would spend four years on an animated feature. However, due to the two years Purdum had spent working on the film before his version was scrapped things changed. “Beauty and the Beast” was made in only two years. To help get things done in time, the dance sequence between Belle and Beast reused the storyboards from Aurora and Prince Phillip dancing in “Sleeping Beauty.”

Originally the character of Chip only had one line. However, the producers liked Bradley Pierce’s performance and voice and thought Chip could be the “cute” character in the movie. This led to the original “cute” character, a non-speaking music box, to get cut from the movie entirely.

Originally “Beauty and the Beast” was going to be a rock song. Then, it was reworked as a ballad. Ashman and Menken asked Lansbury to sing it, but she wasn’t sure she was capable. They asked her to try anyway. She nailed it in one take, and this “trial” run became the version used in the film.

Compressed timeline or not, “Beauty and the Beast” worked. In its initial run, the film made $331.9 million worldwide off of a $25 million budget. It also made $145.9 million in North America, making it the first animated movie to break the $100 million mark.

There was no Best Animated Feature category in 1991, so “Beauty and the Beast” couldn’t get a nomination there. That didn’t matter. The movie got nominated for Best Picture. It became the first animated movie to get a Best Picture nomination, and was the only one to do so before the Academy expanded the number of nominees for the category.

Let’s just say that the deck was stacked in “Beauty and the Beast’s” favor at the Oscars. Five songs were nominated for Best Original Song. A whopping three of those were songs from this movie. “Beauty and the Beast” ended up winning. Menken also took home Best Original Score.

Don’t worry if you don’t remember a “Beauty and the Beast” sequel, even if there was a trio of them. They were all direct-to-video films that were cranked out in the late ‘90s. We got “Enchanted Christmas,” “Belle’s Magical World,” and “Belle’s Tales of Friendship.”

In 1994, Disney’s adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” debuted on Broadway. Susan Egan played Belle, while Terrence Mann played Beast. It ran for over a decade and won one Tony for costume design. Then, in 2017 there was a live-action adaptation starring Emma Watson. It pulled down over a billion dollars and entered the top 10 in all-time box office. No big deal.