Disclosure – I was invited to the #BeOurGuest press event from Disney. Expenses for trip were paid by Disney but thoughts and opinions are my own.
Last week I shared with you some exclusive interviews with some of the cast from Disney’s new live action film Beauty and the Beast that I have been so excited about! Today I share with your our exclusive interview with Director Bill Condon and Musical Film Composer Alan Menken. Being able to interview these two together is something I will never forget!
Photo Credit: Coralie Seright
Shortly before this interview there was a special music presentation by Alan Menken, Luke Evans and Gosh Gad which made this interview even more special! Being able to be in the same room with the man that is so talented with music and then have the opportunity to also interview the director of now one of my favorite movies is a magical moment for this Disney fan! You have to watch the the Beauty and the Beast music presentation with Alan Menken below. I honestly have had the “Gaston” song stuck in my head ever since:
The interview went by FAST and I wish we would have had more time to ask these two more questions. Below I am sharing some of my favorite questions from our exclusive interview with Bill Condon and Alan Menken. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to LISTEN to the whole interview!
What drew you to this story?
Alan Menken: I was drawn to the story by Disney. I mean it was basically Howard Ashman and I were working Little Mermaid, it hadn’t been released yet but people were very happy with it and they said how about Beauty and the Beast. We’re interested in doing that next. I have to say Howard and I actually, we had Aladdin but Aladdin had to go back to development because we were a bit to edgy. There was more development work to do on that so Beauty and the Beast then came in and became the next thing we worked on together.
And, you know, as far as what drew me to it beyond that I mean I gotta go back and credit Howard who had some really, you know, when you look at the initial story and how you’re gonna turn it into an animated musical then it was a matter of inventing the enchanted objects and inventing, you know, these huge ego for Gaston and his posse of nitwits who praise him. so simply because for the structure we needed to put in production numbers and comedy numbers and so it was all those brilliant ideas and I gotta say Howard was so instrumental in that.
Bill Condon: I have to say it was, you know, so I come in. there’s this movie, this classic, perfect movie that already exist and for me more than anything it was the score, the chance to really roll around in that music and to restage it, you know, do a kind of, you know, new version of it in a live action format but to specially those songs. It just felt to me that, that like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Alan Menken: When I heard that Bill was directing it I didn’t know you. I knew the work you had done but Richard said Bill is a major fan of musical theatre. He loves it so this was oh, he knows the craft. He knows musicals and so that was huge.
Photo Credit: Coralie Seright
How do you work together throughout the process?
Bill Condon: Well for me I was intimidated at our first meeting because here I am and I’m sort of talking about the first possible new song and this is a legendary composer but also it’s a property that as we keep saying is perfect on its own so it’s like okay, gonna tell me we need that but Alan is a direct opposite of that. You know, I think Alan as a man of the theatre, is somebody who craves the dialogue and the collaboration. I think that’s what it’s about and that became clear very, very soon, you know. We just started a conversation, you know, it went on for a couple of years, right?
Alan Menken: Yeah, and also we’re both professionals. I mean we both have done a lot of work. We know what’s necessary in order to collaborate and, you know, there are people who are new to musicals and will try to reinvent the wheel in one direction or another but we both have been through, both of us have been through so much and when you’re a pro you basically arrived at the same place kind of because you know what’s important and you know what needs to get done and you also by the way know the necessity of process and I know that for me to go back to Beauty and the Beast on my own, no way I could do it.
I had done it. It’s all about other people coming in and collaborating and for me the director is the boss and so it takes such a burden off of me. Now I’m able to be a catalyst which is what I wanna be more than somebody driving the ship. Bill had the burden of actually driving the ship so I don’t know.
Photo Credit: Coralie Seright
Talk about the challenges of preserving the timeless classic with integrating new things?
Bill Condon: I think again it was always about revealing more. It wasn’t about reinventing, you know. So it was like you start to, you bring it into the real world and you start to ask questions that didn’t matter in the animated film, you know. How did Belle and Maurice wind up in this village. You know, what happened to her mother? How did the Prince become such a dissolute figure that he was worthy of being cursed, you know? And, it’s interesting you start asking those questions and you start to bat around what the possible answers are. Then, you know, you’re making something different but I think for me I could ever really rely on my own kind of reverence for the original film in knowing when you’re changing something or going too far. You know, I hope never to cross that line.
How did you know that Emma was your Belle?
Bill Condon: Well I suspected it right, you know, just seeing her in, you know, in Harry Potter. It seemed like that was a perfect kind of connection to a 21st century Belle. Then we met. I was shooting a movie called Mr. Holmes. We met for an hour and the thing that I loved was how much she loved the original movie and how much she wanted to play the part and she came with a whole pile of books, you know, because I was late, you know, because I was shooting and she was in the middle of reading, you know, so there she was, you know. And then the only question really became she’s never sung professionally before. She needed to answer that question for herself too. She wanted to go off.
It was Christmas holiday and she said, you know, you go out and get a script together you can send me. We made a handshake deal and Emma’s gonna go off and make a tape and explore her voice, you know, and that was the thing, you know, that kind of scary moment. To me it’s more intimate than taking your clothes when you first hear somebody sing even in a karaoke session. You know, it’s like oh, my god, that’s the sound that comes out of you. You know, we’ve seen that a few time in movies too but, but, for her the voice, her voice is so much — it’s so much a continuation of who she is and how she speaks and there was clearly this kind of sweetness to it and clarity to it that made it seem like it was gonna be a different Belle but I was gonna be a really satisfying one.
Alan Menken: She was a little terrified. I mean no bones about it and we made sure she had her vocal coach. I had Michael Kosarin, my musical director. Bill was actually at the sessions. This is not necessarily it always is but it’s so helpful because she was I think really intimidated by me. I don’t know why. Possibly because of me being the composer I don’t think she wanted to be that vulnerable in front of me so I really hung back, you know, in the control room and in the back of the control room. And we also had a guy named Matt Sullivan who is a music supervisor and just gave, had to give Emma the space to just find her voice and work on it and work on it and she did and Dan was similar. He also was, you know, it was new for both of them.
LISTEN to the whole Exclusive Beauty And the Beast Interview With Bill Condon and Alan Menken below:
Be sure to LISTEN to each of the interviews with the Beauty and the Beast cast below:
More About Director Bill Condon & Musical Film Composer Alan Menken
BILL CONDON (Director) is a celebrated film director and Oscar®-winning screenwriter. His most recent projects include the drama “Mr. Holmes,” starring Ian McKellen as an aging Sherlock and Laura Linney as his long-suffering caretaker, and, on stage, the celebrated revival of the musical “Side Show,” which premiered at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center before coming to Broadway.
ALAN MENKEN’s (Score/Music by) music and lyrics have become an integral part of the fabric of our lives since his first works were produced nearly 40 years ago. His stage musicals include “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,” “Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy,” “Real Life Funnies,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Kicks,” “The Dream on Royal Street,” “Beauty and The Beast,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Weird Romance,” “King David,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Sister Act,” “Leap of Faith,” “Newsies,” “Aladdin,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and “A Bronx Tale.”
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