Very mild spoilers for Beauty & The Beast.
Big spoilers for Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Brave man, Bill Condon.
During his stop off in London to promote the movie, he spared us some time for a chat.
Heres how it went…
Im your toughest crowd, I suspect.
Whats youre favourite film?
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Er, the 1991 version ofBeauty And The Beast.
Well tell me the things you miss from the original film.
This is a press junket, Bill Condon!
The law says we have to say we love everything doesnt it?!
Oh, okay [looks disappointed].
No, Im up for this.
[Looks less disappointed] Ill try not to be defensive!
Well, you made a rod for your own back really.
It is, yeah.
Then the balance for me this time around is very slightly different.
The first film starts off as Belles story, and transforms to that of the Beast.
Your film to me seems very slightly, very subtly balanced towards Belle.
For the purposes of what you were doing, I dont think thats a bad thing.
Whats the point of a straight retread after all?
If youre looking to evolve the story a little, that struck me as a solid choice.
The lines of villainy throughout are slightly blurrier.
I guess, turning this around, my question to you is this, though.
You came to a film that you yourself say is perfect.
That had 70 years or so of people trying to crack it.
That people had made it and unmade it, and honed it down to under 90 minutes.
How did you go about putting your stamp on this, rather than just doing a live action photocopy?
What made it a Bill Condon film?
You know what it is.
I could say some very general things, thematics.
For me its the stuff, your own sensibility, that you bring to it.
But then it inevitably turns into the 100 decisions that you make every day.
There was an overture at the start of the version I saw.
Was that a statement of intent?
Laying your musical cards out from the start?
Unfortunately its not going to be shown in that many theatres.
Its just a special thing for premieres, the DVD, that sort of thing.
So the overture isnt going into general release?
Thats a real shame.
I know, I know.
I love it, I really do.
Its interesting when you say that thing about Belle and the Beast, though.
Ive learned,Gods And Monsters,Kinsey, and a weird wayThe Fifth Estate say what you will!
You need an everyman to take you to that character.
We have a little prologue with the Beast.
It takes, to be precise, around 25 minutes for him to show up.
In that time, Belle is the person who is more accessible.
Just as withKinsey, its Kinseys wife whos more accessible.
And Brendan Fraser is that character inGods And Monsters, the accessible one driving up the hill.
Oh, I know, I know.
He needs to do much, much more.
Lets come at it a slightly different way.
Are you aDie Hardman?
I really like the first one!
Alan Rickman in the first movie!
But the trap there is how much do I really need to know about John McClane?
Do I need to know how he became a cop?
How he met Holly?
The information is implied in the film, and thats enough.
The 1991Beauty And The Beastleaves threads, and gaps that could have been filled that werent.
How do you choose which to follow up on for your film, and which to leave?
Because you dont explore them all?
Its good you mention that.
Im so tired of origin films.
Thats the power of a love story I think, right?
Even if its a myth thats hard to find in real life.
To me then, youre painting in broad strokes.
But it did feel like that.
That they were both people who were wounded at a certain point in their lives.
And people who havent quite dealt with it.
Which is a real shift for Belle.
Belle in the story, and in the Cocteau movie, shes also represented purity, hasnt she?
Shes a person without an evil thought in her head.
But also, shes the outsider, Gaston is the one at the centre of society.
But this Belle, theres nothing bad about her.
But she doesnt exist in this ethereal glow of goodness either.
Shes slightly tortured by it.
Youve dialled back on the mental health accusations towards Belles father, Maurice.
Lots of the old lines there are gone.
Hes not over bearing, shes not the rebellious daughter.
…but that purity between Belle and Maurice.
How close were you to such a microscopic detail there?
I think, again, thats the translation from animation to live action.
Whats the use of that, who needs them, you know?
He is hiding from the world.
That pure relationship is, as you say, hard to find in real life.
I dont think it undermines the love.
I think its a nuance.
It jarred for me in that film, but it didnt jar for me here.
There were things I was ready for, one or two things I wasnt.
That was the scene I described when I first went in to talk to Disney about this.
It brings death back to life in a way.
Im really pleased with it.
That decision, you start from there and thats part of why theres an Enchantress in this movie.
Theres your origin movie:Enchantress: Origins!
No, no, no, no!
Ill be reading the announcement about that with somebody else doing it!
It was the story of people camped out to see the film in Los Angeles, really enthused.
And they were jeered by people as they went past.
Jeered, for waiting to see a premiere.
I didnt know that.
I hate that, I really do.
What is your view, then, on the darker edges of fandom?
Its easy to say its not fans, and its not fandom.
But there does seem to be a social stigma for loving certain things.
And yourBeauty And The Beastdeals with these topics.
I think thats the crucial element.
What Ill never forget is the response toTwilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1.
Because these are all rites of passage for women.
The difference in perception between specifically young men and young women is so vast.
How many movies have we seen that make fun ofTwilight, and people who likeTwilight?
But the fact is that there are tens of millions of people, and many of them are women.
I cant lie to you and say thatTwilightmeans something to me…
I get it, I get it.
But I do wonder how you make your film choices.
There doesnt seem to be much fear there?
I will say one thing.
I actually think that the only courageous film Ive ever taken on isTwilight.
Because youre stepping into something thats so devalued, culturally.
It didnt feel that to me, and I didnt mind that.
But thats where a lot of people get confused.
They say they thought I was a serious director!
And to this day, endless things, oh my god, theyre givingBeauty And The Beastto theTwilightdirector!
I disagree with you I think on courage.
I dont think its just what you choose.
Be it 300 words on not liking something, or making a hugely expensive Disney movie.
I couldnt agree with that more.
I didnt realise, incidentally, that you wroteF/X 2!
That was my entry-level Dennehy!
[Laughs] You saw that first?
I have Bluey the Clown in my basement!
Is this where you give me the exclusive aboutF/X 3?
[Laughs] No!
They never did that.
They were going to do it on TV!
Yikes, Im at final question.
You know that Emma Thompson showed up to recordBeauty And The Beastthe day after she closed inSweeney Todd?
And her joke was, I only do Angela Lansbury parts!
Itd be great to get them together!
I heard someone make this point, so cant take the credit for it.
But it seems pertinent.
And its how has the younger audience changed in the 26 years betweenBeauty And The Beastfilms.
Because the assumption is that attention spans have got shorter, yet your movie is some 30-35 minutes longer?
Whats your thought on the changing audience?
You have faith in your audience, it seems.
Seeing that nobody got up, nobody fidgets.
Its not only just the length of the film, though.
Theres a theory that the logic of videogames took over for a certain generation.
That instead of being a three act structure, they wanted I want to choose to go that way.
Well never resolve that, but you understand the tangents that turn into sequences.
Videogames are often 30 hour stories too.
They like that kind of storytelling, thats visceral, and in an interesting way.
Bill Condon, thank you very much.
Beauty And The Beastis in UK cinemas from March 17th.
