A few days ago, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST director Bill Condon revealed that LeFou, the character played by Josh Gad, would have an "exclusively gay moment" in the film. As you can imagine, anyone and everyone has been talking about what appears to be Disney's first openly gay character in a live-action film, although it looks as though the director and star would like to temper expectations just a bit. In speaking with USA TODAY, the two said a few words in hopes of clearing up any confusion.
Bill Condon on LeFou:
I think (LeFou's sexuality) has been a little overstated. To me, I have to say my heart sinks a little (that we're talking about this moment). I like the idea of it coming as this surprise, and I hope people don’t know where it’s coming.
Josh Gad regarding his character:
What was most important to me was taking a character that is wonderful and so iconic, but is defined by cartoon conceits in the (original) movie… and expanding on that, giving him dimension, making him human. There was nothing in the script that said ‘LeFou is gay.’ I hope that it’s a surprise to audiences to some extent, although I don’t think it is anymore. I'm honored to have that moment as part of my character’s arc.
Alright, so maybe "openly gay" might be a bit of an extreme moniker, but at least they tried to add some dimension to what's considered a bit of a throwaway, gag character in the animated film. It's hard to tell how well this moment will go over, so we'll just have to wait 2 weeks and see what audiences think when BEAUTY AND THE BEAST hits theaters!
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST opens in theaters on March 17, 2017.