Belle’s Backstory Has Been Changed For ‘Beauty And The Beast’

Fans of the classic Beauty and the Beast will know that Belle is an avid reader and her father, Maurice, loves to invent. Things seem to have changed in the latest retelling of the story though.

In an exclusive chat with EW, Emma Watson revealed the following:

“In the animated movie, it’s her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle. I was like, ‘Well, there was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn’t fit in, other than she liked books. Also what is she doing with her time?’ So, we created a backstory for her, which was that she had invented a kind of washing machine, so that, instead of doing laundry, she could sit and use that time to read instead. So, yeah, we made Belle an inventor.”

In one of the promotional photos released for the movie, we see Belle and Maurice surrounded by music boxes – here’s what set decorator Katie Spencer had to say about their significance:

“Kevin Kline as Maurice, is making all these music boxes that have to tell the story of Belle not traveling. She’s overprotected in a way, by her father, because she’s lost her mother. So, we’ve made all these music boxes that represent different countries of the world, so she can see what she’s missing.”

Beauty and the Beast stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson, and opens in theaters on March 17, 2017.

Source: EW