Disney is finally having its first ever gay film character with the live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast." However, the character is not the one played by one of its lead actors, Luke Evans, who is openly gay.
Directed by Bill Condon, "Beauty and the Beast" stars Evans as Gaston. Playing Beast/Prince is "Downton Abey" star Dan Stevens with Emma Watson as Belle, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, Kevin Kline as Maurice and Josh Gad as Le Fou.
In the April issue of Attitude, Condon revealed that the upcoming "Beauty and the Beast" film has a small but significant subplot featuring Gaston's sidekick Le Fou.
"LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston," Condon told the publication. "He's confused about what he wants. It's somebody who's just realizing that he has these feelings and Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it.
This is what has its payoff at the end, Condon said but he said he did not want to give it away. The groundbreaking character "is a nice, exclusively gay moment" in a Disney film, the director pointed out.
As for those who are worried that the live-action remake may be too different from the original "Beauty and the Beast" film, Evans made a promise that they have nothing to worry about. The actor talked about the remake while on the set of "10x10," a thriller film being directed by Suzi Ewing.
According to Evans, the "Beauty and the Beast" is very loyal to the original. He told Digital Spy that people are going to love it just as how the film adaptation of "Girl on the Train" did well.
Have a glimpse of LeFou and Gaston played by Gad and Evans, respectively, here: