The Chapter In The History Books
With 1990 came the advent of a new age. After the staggering success of the Little Mermaid and the groundbreaking technology of the Rescuers Down Under, the studio felt like Walt was roaming the halls again. After the 80s being a decade of uncertainty, the animation team were preparing to unleash one of their finest works that would break all kinds of records in all kinds of ways. Again, this idea was put on Walt’s desk way back in the 30s. After Snow White and its success, Walt started looking for other folk tales to adapt into animated fims. The studio at least began developing this story, but WW2 saw it shelved and never touched again, most likely because the 1946 live - action French film by Jean Cocteau being such a success.
In ’87, the project was dusted off after 60 years and given to British director Richard Purdom, who got with producer Don Hahn from Disney new satellite studio in London. At the request of Michael Eisner, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney animated film to have a screenwriter. In the past, animated films always had storyboards before a script. So, chrildren’s TV writer Linda Woolverton was tasked with writing the first draft script.
Despite the success of the Little Mermaid being credited to its musical numbers, Purdum planned Beauty and the Beast not to be a musical production. And when he gave the initial storyboards to Katzenberg in ’89, the reaction was very flat, so Katzenberg orderedthe production to scrap everything they had worked on thus far and start anew, leading to Purdum resigning a few months later. Katzenberg wanted another musical and that wasn’t what Purdom had signed up for. After a test screening of the Little Mermaid, Katzenberg was set to be a roaring success, logically leading to Musker and Clements being appointed the directors of Beauty and the Beast and it’s music, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Though, after the former taking three years to make, Musker and Clements were exhausted and couldn’t fathom the idea of directing another animated film so soon. Especially since they, and Ashman, had their sights set on another future project. Involving a genie.
So, Katzenberg instead gave the directing job to newcomers Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, both of whom had recently completed a short film for an EPCOT attraction in Florida. But they’re lack of experience prompted Katzenberg to implore Menken and Ashman to join the production and help lead the script development and its new focus on music. There was only one big, tragic problem: Howard Ashman was dying of complications from Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Unbeknownst to anyone at Disney, Ashman had been diagnosed with AIDS during production on the Little Mermaid. At the time, the fear and panic was rank over the potential contagious properties of the virus. Ashman refused to allow it to affect production and instead threw himself into his work. Only revealing his diagnosis to Katzenberg after the Little Mermaid’s premiere in 1989; and Menken wasn’t told until after the Oscars in March 1990 to avoid ruining their night of triumph.
To accomodate for Ashman’s illness, the entire pre - producton unit was moved to New York. There, together with Wise, Trousdale, Hahn, Woolverton and Menken, Ashman hashed out a draft script, in which an antagonist named Gaston was created and the roles of the animated household objects were given distinct personalities to liven up the story. Katzenberg approved the final script in early 1990 and storyboarding began in earnest, since they team now had less than two years to finish the project. Since production was based in Glendale, California, animators constantly flew between L.A. and New York for storyboard approval from Ashman, though no one knew why. While Ashman and Menken worked together from his deathbed writing the soundtrack and songs.
THE STORY
In 1700’s France, there lives a spoiled and selfish prince who recieves a visit from an old beggar lady one winter’s night, offering a single rose in return for shelter. The prince, being a boy who judges people on their appearance, sneers at the rose and turns her away, at which point, she reveals herself to be a beautiful enchantress. Regretting his words and actions too late, the prince is transformed into a huge beast and all who live with him are transformed into walking, speaking objects. Ashamed, the beast becomes a recluse. Concealing himself in his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose he was offered is apparently also enchanted, so it will bloom until his twenty first year. If he can learn to love someone else, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal falls, the spell will be broken. Otherwise, he will remain a beast for life. Ten years later, in a nearby village, we meet Belle, a beautiful young, independent woman who loves to read, much to the confusion and dismay of the rest of her village, including the handsome town hero/boorish oaf Gaston who is determined to marry her.
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For the main role of Belle, Katzenberg considered recasting Jodi Benson, who had already brought immortality to Ariel in the Little Mermaid, but felt it best to avoid confusion by allowing each princess voice to align with a single performer, so the studio saww more than 500 women for the role including Broadway performer Paige O’Hara, who read about the project in a New York Times article. Plus Ashman had been eyeing her having aquainted himself with her stage work. O’Hara recieved the call informing her she won the role on her 30th birthday, no less. For the roles of the animated household objects, Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts, Ashman recommended veteran actors for the gravitas the film needed. Beloved stage and screen stars Jerry Orbach, the late David Ogden Stiers and Dame Angela Lansbury were cast soon after. For the film's title track, Ashman and Menken asked Angela to sing, but, astoundingly, she didn’t think she was capable. But, as a favour to the composers, she recorded a single take, which left everyone in the studio drowning in their own tears. And that one take is now what you hear in the film.
By March 1991, Howard Ashman was living on borrowed time. He weighed 36 kilos, had gone completely blind, and almost lost his voice. After the press screening that month, some of the production team dashed to the studio to tell him how well it had gone, with Don Hahn saying “It’s going to be a great success. Who’d have thought?” Ashman grinned and said "I would have”. Four days later, Howard’s heart failed because of AIDS; he was only 40 years old. The entire production team were devastated, but they pushed on, determined to complete the film in his memory and see it get the acclaim it deserved. And, to put it mildly, that is exactly what it did.
MY VERDICT
This film is without question the best of all Disney princess movies. The characters are real people, the animation is a work of genius and the music did not win two Oscars for no reason. Plus this is the only Disney film to ever be nomintated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Is Beauty and the Beast A Disney Classic? Yes. Yes, it is.
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