After Purdum accepted the offer, he
began to work on his own draft of the screenplay. While retaining many elements
of Cox’s draft, Purdum decided to simplify the story and make it somewhat
closer to the source material. To start, he reduced the number of antagonists
from five to two. The first of these antagonists is one that would would remain
into the final film; a suitor for Belle known as Gaston. Initially, Gaston was
not a hunter like in the final film; instead, he was a nobleman (a marquis to
be precise). The secondary antagonist of the film was thankfully cut after this
draft (as she was a rather irritating character), and was Belle’s aunt
Marguerite. The two would work together for purposes that complement each
other’s; Gaston wished to marry Belle, and Marguerite wanted to live a wealthy
lifestyle once again. To achieve these goals, Marguerite and Gaston conspired
against Belle so she would marry into a wealthy family.
Maurice’s occupation was changed
once again, from being an inventor to being a merchant like his counterpart in
the original story. The film’s plot was also more faithful to the original tale
than the previous draft by Cox. Like in the source material, Maurice lost his
shipments at sea; as a result, him and his family are forced to move to the
countryside (much to Marguerite’s dismay). To make ends meet, Belle allows him
to sell a music box that once belonged to her mother (one of many story elements
that would be reused for the 2017 remake of Beauty
and the Beast). Belle only asks for a rose upon returning home. However,
the music box would later be destroyed in the village as Maurice tries to sell
it. On his way from the village (unfortunately with no money and no rose),
Maurice takes shelter inside a castle during a dangerous storm. Upon entry into
the castle, he is given a dinner courtesy of the castle staff transformed into
enchanted objects. However, unlike the final film, the castle staff is mute and
unable to speak; therefore, they communicate using pantomime. Characters such
as the prototype counterparts of Lumiere and Cogsworth also retained their human
size, unlike in later drafts of the film. Maurice later explores the castle
garden, unaware someone is watching him. Like in the 2017 remake and the
original story, Maurice finds a rosebush and remembers his promise to Belle.
Upon clipping the rose from its bush, he is “greeted” by a monstrous beast and
is given an ultimatum; bring Belle to the castle to take his place or stay in
the castle himself as a prisoner (essentially a “life sentence for a rose”).
Not wanting to endanger his oldest daughter, he offers to become Beast’s
prisoner. Before complying to the request, Maurice asks to return home to his
family for one more day and say goodbye. The Beast accepts his request and
sends the old man home using an enchanted sedan chair. Upon learning of Maurice’s
terrible fate, she sneaks out when night falls and takes the place of her
father. Unfortunately, due to a lack of information on this draft, little is
known about the rest of the film aside from the climax. However, it can be
implied many of the iconic moments of the story (such as Belle being sent back
to her father).
Based on pieces of concept art,
Gaston would steal the sedan chair and travel to the Beast’s castle to confront
the latter. He would engage in a battle with the enchanted objects and then
Beast. The latter would throw the former over the wall, but not before being
mortally wounded by the lovesick nobleman. Like in all other adaptations, Belle
would discover the dying Beast and profess her love to him. This confession
would reverse the spell placed upon the castle grounds, reverting the Beast and
the castle staff to their human forms once again. Unfortunately, Jeffrey
Katzenberg rejected this draft; he deemed it “too dark and too dramatic”, and
he felt the film did not fit the Disney style. (Ironically enough, Katzenberg
demanded a darker and cynical film from Pixar when they were producing Toy Story. This simply shows Katzenberg
is somewhat of a hypocrite, and severely lacks the knowledge of the animation
industry as a whole). He also felt Belle’s aunt was too similar to Lady Tremaine,
and he wanted the film to have a “feminist twist” in response to criticisms of The Little Mermaid’s Ariel. Purdum was
so furious from this response, he resigned as director of the film. Upon his
resignation, Katzenberg demanded the film would completely restart production
and asked for the film to be musicalized.
