Disney can certainly get a cast together. They have already recruited Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, and Audra McDonald for their new live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. I love they’re getting at least some people who know how to handle musical theater already, which is more than you can say for most movie musicals. Their latest addition isn’t necessarily a musical guy, but he does come from the theatre.
Ian McKellen is the latest to join the ever-growing cast and will play the clock Cogsworth. This film will reteam him with his Mr. Holmes director Bill Condon, which is set to come out July 17, where McKellen plays an aging Sherlock Holmes.
I do not know how good a singer McKellen is, but if that isn’t his strong suit, thankfully Cogsworth is not a heavy singing part. It is a role he can get by speak-singing, or as I like to call it “Rex Harrison-ing”. If he can’t sing, I probably won’t complain because who in their right mind would complain about Ian McKellen being in a movie? He’s one of the finest actors of the past who knows how long, and him being cast in something should put a smile on every single face that reads the news.
We now have two parts of the item trio in place as Thompson plays Mrs. Potts. Who will be our candlestick to sing “Be Our Guest,” though? I hope they go back to the musical theater world again for that. They have enough names to sell the movie already. Alan Cumming anyone? We’ll wait and see.
Original report from Variety.
