‘Beauty and the Beast’ Star Luke Evans on Emma Watson’s Belle: ‘She’s More Than a Disney Princess’

Emma Watson will star as Belle in Disney’s live adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, but according to one of her co-stars, Belle’s not your usual heroine and this ain’t your usual damsel-in-distress fairytale.

Luke Evans, who plays Gaston in the film, has nothing but kind words to say to MTV recently about his co-star Emma Watson and what she brings to the role of the classic Disney princess.

Read Evans gushing over Watson’s performance as Belle below:

“She’s great,” he said. “She epitomizes what Belle should be in the 21st century to young girls; she’s a strong woman. We all know Emma as Emma, a strong woman, she has a voice, she uses it very effectively and I admire her for that. She’s brought some of that to Belle. She’s not just a Disney princess, she’s more than a Disney princess, and she has a beautiful sensitive side to her. She’s quite delicate to look at, but she’s not at all. She’s a really strong, feisty woman and we have some fantastic scenes in the film. I was making her laugh more than she should have been laughing.”

In addition to Evans and Watson and McGregor, the film stars Luke Evans as Gaston, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza the grand piano, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Kevin Kline as Maurice , Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts and Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as Garderob. Bill Condon is directing.

Beauty and the Beast is scheduled to hit theaters March 17, 2017.

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