You’re going to freak out when you hear who almost played Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast”
Okay, you definitely want to sit down for this. Although the live-action Beauty and the Beast was basically perfect, there was apparently another man in the running to play Gaston, and we really would not have been mad if this other guy got the role. According to an interview in Glamour, Idris Elba auditioned to play Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. How great would he have been?!
The 45-year-old actor revealed that he really wanted to get in on the Disney fun.
“I honestly love musicals. I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast. I really did, for Gaston. I called, I said, ‘Listen, I want in!’ They were like, ‘Ah, uh, ah, OK!’ So somewhere they have a tape of me singing,” he said. OMG, can we please find this tape?
Elba guessed that they thought he was “too old” for the part (or they weren’t ready to cast a black man in the iconic role). The Luther actor said that he only sort-of-kind-of hated Luke Evans, who ended up with the part.
He was joking, obvs.
“No, I love you, Luke, you know that. Great actor,” Elba said. To be real, it’s sort of a good thing that Elba didn’t get the role. If only because Gaston is a total jerk, and Elba is, well, just look at him!
This only means that we all have to try just a little bit harder to ensure that Elba gets to be James Bond in the next 007 movie. Although the entire world wants him in the role, it might not ever happen. And not for the reasons you may think. It could actually be a scheduling conflict that keeps Elba from drinking his martinis shaken, not stirred.
Apparently, he’s already signed onto the next season of Luther. The filming of the hit BBC show overlaps with the projected filming schedule for the next Bond film, so by accepting one role, he essentially turns down the other. Having missed out on the singing and dancing Elba, we need him as the next Bond. C’mon, Idris, keep making those calls.
