Belle Gets A New Backstory in Beauty And The Beast Remake

Anyone who grew up watching Disney movies has probably seen Beauty and the Beast. So, it’s likely that everyone knows the story. A girl who doesn’t fit in ends up a prisoner at a castle owned by a beast and falls in love with said beast. It’s a Disney classic! But, the new live-action remake seems to be shaking things up a bit.

According to the little backstory viewers get regarding Belle, the female protagonist, she doesn’t feel like she fits in her “provincial town.” Based on the opening musical number, the main reasons for her not having friends are that she prefers to read, and her father is a misunderstood inventor. Well, not anymore.

“I was like, ‘Well, there was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn’t fit in, other than she liked books. Also what is she doing with her time?’” said star Emma Watson about her character, Belle. “So, we created a backstory for her, which was that she had invented a kind of washing machine, so that, instead of doing laundry, she could sit and use that time to read instead.”

“So, yeah,” she continued. “We made Belle an inventor.”

Way to shift things around! That’s right, everyone’s favorite bookworm princess doesn’t just spend her time dreaming about faraway lands and fairytales, and she puts her knowledge to good use! This is exactly the kind of backstory modern fans of the Disney princess movie want to see for a character like Belle.

But what about her father, the original inventor? Turns out, he isn’t as much of an inventor, but he is still very much a tinkerer. He is seen in recent photos surrounded by music boxes, which help add to Belle’s curiosity about the world.”

“She’s overprotected by her father, because she’s lost her mother,” said the set decorator Katie Spencer. “So, we’ve made all these music boxes that represent different countries of the world, so she can see what she’s missing.”

A curious, hardworking, imaginative Belle? Sounds like Watson might be channeling a bit of another of her famous character for her new role – Hermione Granger anyone?

[H/T Entertainmnet Weekly]