Beauty and the Beast - Casting news (+ BSG : Blood & Chrome update)

Alan Dale, whom you might know from little shows called Lost, 24 & Entourage, will appear in a recurring role on ABC's Beauty and the Beast as Emperor Dorian. Facing him will be Karen LeBlanc (Shattered, Defying Gravity) as Ehren, a rebel leader who wants to take the Emperor down, according to Variety.

Why do I report on that pilot (which truthfully doesn't sound good to me) ? Two reasons : first, there's Alan Dale, that's cool. Second, it's because Karen LeBlanc has signed to join this pilot despite her commitment to SyFy's Blood and Chrome, the Battlestar Galactica spin-off in which she was supposed to co-star (as a secondary character, but still).

The 90-minute TV movie introducing Blood and Chrome has been filmed a long time ago and Bear McCreary (the amazing composer of BSG) has recently put a score on it. But a co-star leaving the ship (literally), the pilot limping its way through the years, SyFy announcing new original programming recently (and not a word on BSG B&C) and the fact that a series would be very expensive might refrain SyFy's will to commit to a first season order. However, the TV movie/pilot might air this summer (more on that right here).

It's SyFy, so it wouldn't be a summer burnoff, but I remain doubtful this is good news though. I don't want to sound pessimistic, because I love Battlestar Galactica & Caprica and I think I'd love Blood and Chrome, but I'm afraid it won't turn into a series. SyFy having crossed the words 'ambition', 'decent budget' or even 'science-fiction' of its vocabulary these past few years, I wouldn't be surprised if they passed on it.


Anyway, to get back on Beauty and the Beast, in both the ABC and CW versions, the main characters are not named Belle and Beast. Jonathan E. Steinberg (Jericho & Human Target) chose to name them Grace and Shiro (ABC) while Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin (Brothers & Sisters) went with Catherine and Vincent (CW).

There's not just 2 new versions of that classic fairy-tale in development. Indeed, Christophe Gans, director of fantasy thrillers Le Pacte des Loups & Silent Hill, has co-written (with Sandra Vohan) and will direct his version of La Belle et la Bête. With a budget of €35 million (= $46 million), this film will start shooting in October for a release in late 2013.

This version will star Léa Seydoux (La belle personne, Inglorious Basterds, Robin Hood, Midnight in Paris, M:i:IV, Les adieux à la reine) and Vincent Cassel (La haine, Sur mes lèvres, Irréversible, Ocean's 12 & 13, Eastern Promises, the Mesrine diptych, Black Swan, A Dangerous Method). Cassel also previously worked with Gans on Le Pacte des Loups (The Brotherhood of the Wolf).


There have been many screen adaptations of the story of Beauty and the Beast, aka La Belle et la Bête as written in 1756 by its author Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, based on Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's story (written in 1740), including :

— 1946 : La Belle et la Bête (France), by Jean Cocteau, starring Josette Day and Jean Marais.
— 1952 : Alenkiy Tsvetochek (Soviet Union), by Lev Atamanov (animated movie).
— 1978 : Panna a netvor (Czechoslovakia), by Juraj Herz, starring Zdena Studenková and Vlastimil Harapes.
— 1987 : Beauty and the Beast (USA), by Eugene Marner, starring John Savage and Rebecca de Mornay (musical).
— 1987-1990 : Beauty and the Beast (USA (CBS)), by Ron Koslow, starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman.
— 1991 : Beauty and the Beast (USA), by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise (Disney animated movie).
— 2005 : Blood of Beasts (UK), by David Lister, starring Jane March and David Dukas.
— 2011 : Beastly (USA), by Daniel Barnz, starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer.
— 2012 : Beauty and the Beast (USA (ABC)), by Jonathan E. Steinberg, starring Ruth Bradley and Darius Campbell.
— 2012 : Beauty and the Beast (USA (CW)), by Sherri Cooper & Jennifer Levin, starring Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan.
— 2013 : La Belle et la Bête (France), by Christophe Gans, starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel.