15 Facts You Never Knew About One Of Disney's Most Iconic Films

by N/A, 9 years ago | 4 min read

| 2057

There's much more to Belle than just her love of books! Even the most dedicated Disney fans won't know some of these facts about the origins of Beauty and the Beast.

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1. When Maurice gets lost in the woods at the start of the movie, you can faintly see that one of the signs points to Anaheim.

2. A toy version of the Beast appears in Aladdin.

3. Walt Disney wanted to make Beauty and the Beast in the 1930s, but heard that a live-action version was in production and decided to wait.

4. An early version of the movie had no music and gave Belle a little sister named Clarice and a pet cat.

5. Jackie Chan played the part of the Beast in the dubbed Mandarin version of the movie and even sings.

6. Kirk Wise, who directed the movie, started his career in animation by drawing caricatures at Universal Studios.

7. Belle makes an appearance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

8. The Beast is a collaboration of several animals. He has the beard and head of a buffalo, the mane of a lion, the body of a bear, the brow of a gorilla, a wolf tail, human eyes and the tusks of a boar.

9. John Alvin, who created the movie poster has also created posters for Gremlins, E.T., The Color Purple and The Lion King.

11. When Angela Lansbury first heard "Beauty and the Beast" and was asked to sing it, she was concerned. It was presented to her as more of a rock song and she wasn't sure that was her style. Eventually she was told to sing it how she thought it should be

10. Walt Disney hired Roger Purdum as an animator for the movie in the 80s. He wanted him to direct a non-musical version of the film. Purdum spent 10 week storyboarding the movie, but the studio called it too dark and depressing.

12. Animator Glen Keane wished that the Beast hadn't transformed back into a human at the end of the movie.

13. The song "Human Again" was cut from the final cut of the movie. It added 11 minutes to the movie and confused the film's passage of time. It has been included in recent DVD extras.

14. The scene where the Beast is initially transformed by the enchantress was supposed to be in the movie, but was cut because producers didn't take it seriously.

15. The songs "Be Our Guest" and "Belle" were nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, but the title song "Beauty and the Beast" took home the award in 1992.