Director Bill Condon has confirmed that Disney‘s live-action adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” will feature an “exclusively gay moment.” The moment will focus on LeFou (played by Josh Gad) – the studio’s first-ever openly gay character.
The fact that Disney’s first openly gay character serves as Gaston’s diminutive, booze-loving sidekick is questionable – still, this is considered a major step for the studio. In an exclusive interview with Attitude, Cordon hopes to dig past the subtext and explore LeFou’s adoration for Gaston. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” the director said. “It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings.”
The director also revealed that the 1991 original film was inspired by a gay man, who also happened to be the film’s lyricist Howard Ashman. The famed playwright and lyricist battled with AIDS while working on the classic, and died shortly after the film’s first screening.
With the trailers racking up over 15 million YouTube views, anticipation for the remake is poised to rival the original. “Beauty and The Beast” hits theaters on March 17th.
