Dan Stevens believes the lead characters in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are popular with the LGBT community because of the discrimination they face.
The 34-year-old actor stars as The Beast opposite Emma Watson in the new Disney movie and has revealed why he believes his on-screen character and Belle are both well liked by the community.
He shared: "It’s about that sense of persecution. Belle is seen as a bit of a freak within her community, this girl who reads and invents things and is a bit too clever for the local Establishment. And Beast is obviously persecuted because of his appearance."
Meanwhile, Emma revealed she was keen to "develop" why Belle feels like she doesn’t fit in.
She told the April issue of Attitude magazine: "I think it was really important actually for Dan and I to develop and understand why each of our characters feel like they don’t fit in.
"I certainly felt watching the original that I wanted to know more about why Belle feels that she’s different and why she wants to be different and why she’s naturally different."
The much-anticipated new movie features Disney’s first-ever gay moment.
And although director Bill Condon has remained tight-lipped about the specifics of the scene, he promised moviegoers they can expect to see a "nice, exclusively gay moment" in the new ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
He said: "LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants.
"It’s somebody who’s just realising that he has these feelings. And Josh [Gad, who plays LeFou] makes something really subtle and delicious out of it.
"And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."
Dan Stevens explains Beauty and the Beast’s LGBT appeal
