Long ago in the somewhat faraway
land of Burbank, a young prince stood atop a massive animation empire. Although
he desired to adapt every story he loved; there were some stories in his eyes
that he saw as “impossible”, so he shelved them. One of these stories centered
around a mermaid and her desire to become human, as well as other works from
the author known as Hans Christian Andersen. The other was based on a French
novel by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (pardon me if I butcher the
name); and it centered around a woman held prisoner by a grotesque beast whom
she later learns to love. Unfortunately, due to problems pertaining to story,
the project was indefinitely shelved. Many years pass, and the project was once
again greenlit under the direction of Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. If they
could overcome the problems Walt faced during the original production, then the
movie’s curse would be broken; if not, it would be doomed to remain in the
archives forever. Throughout its arduous production, the film was simply known…
as Beauty and the Beast…
The story of this Tale
as Old as Time’s production begins in 1988, shortly before production on
Disney’s The Little Mermaid had
completed. While working on the screenplay of what would later become The Rescuers Down Under, Jim Cox was
approached by Michael Eisner to create a treatment for Beauty and the Beast. Thankfully, Cox immediately accepted the
offer and began work on said treatment. Afterwards, he submitted it to Michael
Eisner; Eisner loved the treatment and asked the studio’s artists to work on
some initial sketches (which can be seen on the early presentation reel on the
final product’s DVD). He phoned Cox while the latter was visiting his wife,
asking him to expand the initial treatment into a full screenplay.
Unfortunately, the screenplay was rejected by Katzenberg; he claimed the script
did not match the direction they had in mind.
Initially,
Cox envisioned the film as darker and more faithful to the source material than
the final product would later become. Like in the final film, Maurice was a
poor inventor living in a cottage in France with his daughter, Belle. However,
in this draft, Belle had two sisters that would serve as the movie’s main
antagonists. Serving as secondary antagonists were three suitors for Belle; an
actor, an army general, and a nobleman, all competing for Belle’s hand in
marriage. Belle would take her father’s place as the prisoner of a Beast after
the former is imprisoned for trespassing the latter’s castle. While Belle feels
happy in the castle with the company of the enchanted objects, she still feels
uneasy towards the Beast; however, that would soon change after one fateful
night. While exploring the forest beyond the castle grounds, Belle is attacked
by a pack of wolves, similar to an event in the final film. Also similarly, the
Beast would come to her rescue and possibly sustained some significant
injuries. Afterwards, the two would begin to warm up to each other and later form
a strong friendship. Unfortunately, while Belle enjoyed the company of her new
companions, she longed to see her family once again.
Like in the original story and in
the final product, Belle asks the Beast if she would be allowed to return to
her family. Beast allows her to return for one night, much to her delight and
his chagrin (as Belle is the key to breaking the castle’s curse). The next day,
Belle returns to her family and informs them of the Beast, his castle, and his
riches. However, Belle would later regret mentioning this within earshot of her
sisters as they use that as motivation to the Beast’s castle; they believed if
they were in control of the riches, the suitors would fall for them instead.
The suitors decided to join in and kill the Beast, as the trio saw him as
competition for Belle’s hand. The five villains decide to pay the castle a
visit and confront its master. While Beast manages to scare off the five, he is
fatally wounded and left for dead in the courtyard. Upon realizing her sisters’
deception, Belle immediately rushes back to the castle and holds a dying Beast
in her arms. She kisses him and confessing her love, breaking the spell on the
castle and all who lived there. As for Belle’s sisters and her suitors… they
were turned into animals by Agathe, the same enchantress who transformed the
young prince into a Beast. (Agathe really has a thing for turning people into
animals, doesn’t she?)
Like
many initial drafts of Disney films, this one seems to be significantly more
faithful to the original story. However, this draft does contain some elements
that would remain as production progressed onward. As mentioned in the
beginning, Katzenberg desired a different direction for the film and Cox left
the project despite the former saying he did a great job on the script. After
Cox’s vision was silently rejected, Disney turned to Gen LeRoy and asked him to
try his hand at writing a new script draft (In my honest opinion, the less that
is said about this script, the better, it has almost nothing to do with the
original story). Unsurprisingly, this draft was rejected as well (excellent
move on Katzenberg’s part, I will give him that). After LeRoy’s draft was given
a “thumbs-down” in 1989, Disney decided to hire Richard Williams (known for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Thief and The
Cobbler, and The Animator’s Survival
Kit) as director for the film.
Unfortunately, Williams declined the offer and recommended his friend and
fellow animator Richard Purdum who did accept the offer.
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