Disney might have discovered the following actor keen to flex in entrance of a mirror and persuade a complete village that he’s the best factor that’s ever occurred to them.
Glen Powell is reportedly being eyed to play Gaston in a brand new live-action Magnificence and the Beast prequel. Disney has spent years digging by its animated library for live-action remakes, sequels, spinoffs, and villain-focused tales.
Gaston is definitely a personality who may carry a film of his personal, particularly if Disney needs to discover how this ridiculously assured hunter grew to become the man we ultimately meet in Magnificence and the Beast.
The report comes from The InSneider, and as of proper now, nothing has been formally introduced by Disney, so the casting ought to nonetheless be handled as a rumor till the studio confirms it.
Powell has turn out to be certainly one of Hollywood’s most in-demand main males, and Gaston appears like a reasonably pure match for him. He has the movie-star appeal, comedic timing, bodily presence, and talent to play an absurdly assured character with out utterly shedding the viewers.
The larger problem is that he’d be following within the boots of Luke Evans, who gave us a unbelievable Gaston in Disney’s 2017 live-action Magnificence and the Beast.
Evans knew precisely what made the character work. His Gaston was pompous, egotistical, useless, and more and more harmful, however he was additionally convincingly succesful. Evans offered each the ridiculous comedy of that ego and the threatening facet of the character when the story moved towards its closing confrontation.
I’ve little doubt that Powell may ship a memorable model of Gaston. This additionally this isn’t Disney’s first try to discover Gaston earlier than the occasions of Magnificence and the Beast.
A Disney+ prequel collection was beforehand in growth that might have introduced Evans again as Gaston alongside Josh Gad as LeFou. The story was set to discover the early years of their friendship whereas introducing members of their households and increasing their historical past collectively.
That venture was ultimately placed on maintain and ultimately pale away, leaving followers questioning whether or not Disney had given up on the concept altogether. Apparently, the studio nonetheless sees potential in Gaston’s previous, solely this time it could possibly be approaching the character from a special course with Powell taking on the position.
Gaston begins Magnificence and the Beast because the celebrated hero of his little nook of France earlier than revealing simply how entitled, manipulative, and cruel he can turn out to be when he doesn’t get what he needs.
A prequel may dig into how he earned his fame, the place his large ego got here from, and what his relationship with LeFou seemed like earlier than Belle and the Beast entered the image.
After all, Disney nonetheless has to show there’s a narrative price telling past merely giving a recognizable villain his personal film. Turning him into the central character with out sanding away the qualities that make him a villain would be the tough half.
What do you consider Powell within the position of Gaston?
