NEW YORK, Nov. 26 (UPI) — Legendary actress Angela Lansbury admits she doesn’t really understand why Disney wants to re-make her 1991 animated movie “Beauty and the Beast” as a live-action/cartoon hybrid.
“I was a bit taken aback, naturally. I thought: ‘Why? Why are we doing this over again?’ But I guess, I don’t know why they’re doing it. But they are, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it. These are live-action pieces and I know very well the actress who’s playing Mrs. Potts and she’s a very good friend of mine. It’s Emma Thompson,” Lansbury told Entertainment Weekly.
Asked if it feels strange that the characters she and her co-stars brought to life will be played by other actors, Lansbury replied: “Oh, absolutely. I don’t quite know why they’re doing it.
“I can’t understand what they’re going to do with it that will be better than what we’ve already done. And how they’re doing it live — it may turn out to be very entertaining and wonderful. It won’t be like the cartoon that we did, but it’s a good story — it’s one of the famous fairy stories that is known worldwide by children. Therefore, why not? I don’t blame them for doing it. But, I’m sorry, they’re not really on our territory. We did it as cartoon characters, and that is quite different from live actors.”
The New York Daily News noted the 91-year-old actress brought the house down when she took the stage to perform the film’s title song at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s recent 25th anniversary screening of the animated movie. The new version is due out March 17.
