Dan Stevens Cast As Beast In Beauty And The Beast

Downton Abbey breakout star Dan Stevens is in negotiations for the role of Beast/Prince in Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The English stage and screen actor will be paired with Harry Potter star Emma Watson, who is playing the enchanting Belle. Luke Evans was cast earlier in the day as the devious Gaston.

The new film will be a remake of the 1991 animated Disney classic, not a re-imagining. It is about "a young woman who takes her father's place as a prisoner in a monstrous being's castle, only to tall in love with the creature, who turns out to be a prince."

It will be directed by Bill Condon ("The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn"), from a script written by Stephen Chbosky.