Emma Watson: "We made Belle an inventor"

One of the newly released images from Beauty and the Beast gave us our first look at Kevin Kline as Maurice, as well as a bit of insight into Belle's relationship with her father.

Emma Watson spoke with Entertainment Weekly about expanding Belle's backstory and why she has so much time to read.

“In the animated movie, it’s her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle,” says Watson. “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?’ 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, we made Belle an inventor.”

According to set decorator Katie Spencer, Maurice, who is troubled by the loss of Belle's mother, spends his time crafting music boxes for his daughter in addition to being an inventor.

“Kevin Kline as Maurice, is making all these music boxes that have to tell the story of Belle not traveling,” says the film’s set decorator, Katie Spencer. “She’s overprotected in a way, by her father, because she’s lost her mother. So, we’ve made all these music boxes that represent different countries of the world, so she can see what she’s missing.” 

Check out all the latest images here and be sure to pick up Entertainment Weekly for even more from the set of Beauty and the Beast.


Source: Entertainment Weekly