He may have met a grizzly end as well-loved Downton Abbey hunk Matthew Crawley, but now Dan Stevens is set to put his good looks to one side and become a more rugged kind of heart throb by starring in the live action remake of Disney's Beauty And The Beast as the Beast to Emma Watson's Belle.
Dan, 32, who has become hot news in Hollywoood since his untimely death in Downton is in talks to appear as the cursed Prince in the new big screen adaptation of the classic tale according to The Hollywood Reporter, adding another big British name to the cast list after Luke Evans was linked to the role of ego-fuelled villain Gaston yesterday. Emma Thompson is also rumoured to be in the pipeline to play Mrs Potts.
Director Bill Condon is already joined by producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman behind the scenes while Emma is currently the only confirmed cast member as heroine Belle. Beauty And The Beast joins the list of Disney classics being updated with a 21st century real life theme which already includes The Jungle Book, Cinderella which hits cinema's on March 13 and is receiving rave reviews and last year's take on Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, which starred Angelina Jolie and grossed $758.4million at the worldwide box office.
Dan is in talks to play the Beast in the Disney remake (WENN)
Beauty, set in France, tells the story of a beautiful young woman who switches places with her father to become a prisoner in the Beast's castle, but as she gets to know him falls in love with the creature despite his appearance, he then turns out to be a prince.
It hasn't been confirmed if the remake will also be a musical featuring the popular songs from the original animated version which dates back to 1991, however when Emma was cast back in January she did hint on Facebook that she would be singing. She wrote: "It was such a big part of my growing up, it almost feels surreal that I'll get to dance to 'Be Our Guest' and sing 'Something There.' ... Time to start some singing lessons."
Ryan Gosling was previously thought to be in talks for the part of the Beast. Production is expected to begin this spring with the movie scheduled for release in 2016.
