This year marks the 25th anniversary of Disney’s animated classic Beauty and the Beast. To commemorate that milestone, the beloved film returned to Lincoln Center for a special celebratory screening on Sunday evening—25 years after the Film Society of Lincoln Center debuted a work-in-progress version of the movie at the New York Film Festival back in September of 1991. The unfinished work received a standing ovation there, and the film went on to become the first-ever animated feature film to receive a best-picture Oscar nomination.
At the anniversary screening, original voice cast members—including Paige O’Hara (Belle), Robby Benson (Beast), Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts), Richard White (Gaston), and producer Don Hahn—re-united for the first time in years. They reminisced about the film’s legacy during a Q&A session and, following the screening, Lansbury, 90, surprised guests by singing the title song live onstage. She was accompanied by prolific Disney composer Alan Menken.
Vanity Fair caught up with the cast on the red carpet, where they revealed some fun facts about the tale as old as time. Here are seven behind-the-scenes secrets:
- The real reason Beauty and the Beast stands the test of time.
“The movie works and will live on forever because the message is about pure love,” said Benson, who voiced the snarling and short-tempered Beast. “It’s not about how pretty somebody is, but about someone’s heart and soul. The love between Belle and the Beast is honest, and that makes the film so special.”
- Not only is Belle the oldest Disney princess (she’s in her 20s!), but she’s also a revolutionary role model.
“I am really honored to have been able to create a character who in so many ways is a revolutionary heroine,” said O’Hara, the voice of Belle. “I love the fact that Belle’s independent. She wasn’t looking for a man and she’s highly intelligent. I also love that she’s the oldest Disney princess. She’s the only one who they ever created to be in her 20s. All the other princesses have been teenagers. So there’s maturity about her. I didn’t realize until 25 years later how significant it was when she gives up her life and freedom for her father,” she added. “When you’ve experienced death in your family, then you realize how incredibly moving that moment was and how truly remarkable it was for Belle to give up everything for [her] father. It shows how courageous she is.”
- Mrs. Potts was originally called Mrs. Chamomile, and Lumiere was named Chandal.
Producer Don Hahn, along with the late Howard Ashman—the film’s lyricist and executive producer—worked on Beauty from a Residence Inn hotel in Fishkill, New York, where many of the movie’s hit songs were composed—including the title ballad. They also came up with key characters there: “For Mrs. Potts, we originally tried to find the most soothing possible association and we came up with Mrs. Chamomile,” revealed Hahn. “Chamomile is a very, soothing herbal tea, but nobody could pronounce it. So Howard said, ‘Let’s call her Mrs. Potts.’ Calling her Mrs. Potts was simple, and it was easy to rhyme with, and kids could say it. It was the same for Lumiere. He was Chandal for a while, like chandelier, but became Lumiere because Lumiere is easier to say. He was also named after the Lumiere brothers, who were early film and photograph guys.”
- Belle’s iconic yellow ball gown was created during a late-night pizza spree.
In the beginning of the film, Belle is drawn to look similar to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She is the only person we see wearing the color blue, while the rest of the townsfolk don gold, orange, and red clothes. “By the time you see her in the ballroom, she’s warmed up, and her colors represent that. She becomes no longer this blue character, both physically and emotionally,” explained Hahn. As for Belle’s iconic yellow ball gown: “We came up with it one night over a box of pizza. Brian McEntee, the art director, said, ‘Let’s make a blue and gold ball, the colors that represent Belle, and have her be in all gold to show her love and her warmth.’ It’s so weird at Halloween every year that little girls wear that ball gown. I go, ‘I know where that came from, and I know the night we figured it out over pizza!”
- Angela Lansbury almost didn’t make it to record the title song due to a bomb threat.
When the legendary actress was on a flight to New York to record the film’s title track, her plane had to make an emergency landing due to a bomb threat on board. The plane was grounded for hours, and she nearly missed the recording session. “Ms. Lansbury came in after being up all night long, and she came in like a trooper,” recalled O’Hara during the Q&A. “We were all worried that she would be too exhausted, but she comes out and sings ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in one take. They took the first take [for the film]!” Lansbury explained: “We made it just in time, and I think it was the excitement and the sense of doing it now that helped me sing the song.”
- The secret to being Belle is having an old soul.
Luckily, Emma Watson, who is starring as Belle in Disney’s live-action version of the film, due in theaters next year, has one. “Emma’s perfect for the role. She’s got the intelligence, the humor, the spirit, the soul, and [she’s] beautiful. I mean, she’s going to be fantastic,” said O’Hara. “The secret to playing Belle is that you have to keep her sense of humor. She’s an old soul, and she’s a nurturing person. She’s got a lot of compassion and forgiveness in her. And she has her stubborn side too, which makes her fun and charming. From what I hear about Emma, she has all the same qualities as Belle, a lot like me. I am passing the baton to her for a whole new generation of kids.”
- Unlike iPads, Beauty and the Beast helps children to dream.
According to Lansbury, the film gives kids an opportunity to be creative. “Children see things that we aren’t even aware of, and that’s what makes it so interesting to play in a movie which appeals directly to the imagination, and the sense of make-believe that children want to believe in,” Lansbury said during the Q&A. “Particularly today, so much is mechanical in their hands—these iPads and so on—that they really are missing out so much. They don’t get to use their imaginations in a way that we want them to, which is to dream. For that reason, I hope that this film will remain and live through generations. We are going to be around for a long time, and that’s very comforting.”
