Idris Elba auditioned for ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
The 45-year-old actor has admitted he sent in an audition tape for the recent live-action remake of the 1991 animated Disney feature, but lost out on his dream of playing the villainous Gaston after the role ultimately went to Luke Evans.
Idris told People magazine’s ‘The Jess Cagle Interview’: "I honestly love musicals. I auditioned for ‘Beauty and the Beast’. I really did, for Gaston. I called and said, ‘Listen, I want in!’ So somewhere they have a tape of me singing."
‘Beauty and the Beast’ was released in March this year, and starred Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the titular roles, as well as Josh Gad as Gaston’s right hand man Le Fou, Ewan McGregor as Lumiére, Sir Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, and Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts.
Previously, lead actress Emma Watson admitted she had a "crisis of confidence" when it came to having to sing on the set of the movie, but admits that now she’s done it she wants to perform in musicals "every day".
She said: "I can’t even tell you how nerve-racking it was. I had a real crisis of confidence.
"It’s something I’ve always done and loved to do. My family know I can do it and my friends know I can do it, but I thought, is my voice holding to hold up?
"But I loved it. I want to do a musical every day of my life. When I hear that song Beauty and the Beast I just melt."
It wasn’t the first time Emma had spoken about her fears over singing in the movie either, as she previously said felt a "different level of vulnerability" when she was asked to sing in the production.
She said: "It was something I talked about a lot when I got cast as Hermione, that I really wanted to sing. But I had kind of put it to bed because the acting thing had gone quite well …
"Singing makes you much more vulnerable than speaking. In acting, you can hide behind a character, whereas, when you start singing, it’s your own voice. For me, there’s definitely a different level of vulnerability."
Idris Elba auditioned for Beauty and the Beast
