Cape Town – Attitude magazine revealed on Wednesday that Disney will make history by featuring its first gay character in the new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast.
While the film is one of 2017’s highly anticipated films and has already received an abundance of attention thanks to teasers, beautiful posters and plenty of trailers and clips, it is now standing out for making Disney history.
In an interview with Attitude, director Bill Condon revealed the character of Gaston’s (Luke Evans) sidekick, Le Fou - played by Josh Gad in the live-action remake – will have a small but important subplot based on his sexuality.
“He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realising that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie,” reveals Bill.
Of the historic reveal, Attitude editor-in-chief Matt Cain said: “It may have been a long time coming but this is a watershed moment for Disney.”
Read the full interview here.
Beauty and the Beast releases in South African cinemas on 14 April 2017.