Showing posts with label Beauty and the Beast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beauty and the Beast. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hollywood Report: ABC's 'Beauty and the Beast' Ordered to Pilot


From Hollywood Report: ABC's 'Beauty and the Beast' Ordered to Pilot:

ABC is making it a pair of Beauty and the Beast reboots this pilot season.

The female-skewing network is moving forward with its reimagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world where a beautiful and tough princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast.

Human Target scribe Jonathan E. Steinberg (Jericho) will pen the project with Gary Fleder (Life Unexpected) and Mary Beth Basile (October Road) attached to executive produce the ABC Studios project through their Mojo Films shingle.

ABC's Beauty and the Beast update comes as the network has found success with freshman fairy tale Once Upon a Time, the dual universe drama revolving around Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her long-lost daughter (Jennifer Morrison).

But will Gaston be forced upon us? Shudder. It's ABC/Disney. It could happen. Just saying. Although I am enjoying Once Upon a Time. I'm just more attached to Beauty and her Beast so I get worried.

Now that Snow White trend really is ending but the fairy tale one isn't!

And isn't everyone excited to know that my Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World will be out later this year?

CW Picks Up Beauty and the Beast



I'm a little behind on this! From The CW Orders Pilots for Green Arrow Series, Sex and the City Prequel, Beauty and the Beast Redo:

The CW on Wednesday doled out pilot orders for three buzzy projects: Arrow, The Carrie Diaries and Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast, meanwhile, is loosely based on the 1980s sudser starring Linda Hamilton, but adding a modern-day procedural twist.

From Hollywood Reporter:

The CW's Beauty and the Beast, meanwhile, is one of two projects mining the famed story this development season. The network's project is based on the 1980s CBS drama that starred Ron Perlman as Vincent (aka the Beast) and Linda Hamilton as Catherine (the Beauty).

Set up at CBS Television Studios, it's described as a modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist. Felicity's Jennifer Levin and Brothers and Sisters' Sherri Cooper are attached to pen the project and executive produce alongside Paul Witt, C. Anthony Thomas, Ron Koslow and Bill Haber.

Now I loved the first few seasons of this show back when it aired. I was a teen eager for anything Beauty and the Beast and this worked well for me then. I have not rewatched in years but scenes and imagery are very vivid for me, even some plots. I am intrigued. And I am sure we won't be getting Gaston in this iteration. Thank goodness.

And at least this means the Snow White domination may be ending...

But the fairy tale trend isn't!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

France Month: La Belle et la Bête illustrated by Delphine Bodet



La Belle et la Bête illustrated by Delphine Bodet is today's offering. There aren't as many French picture books of this tale as one might hope. This is one of the newest offerings published in 2011. I gathered most of these illustrations from Bodet's own website where she also had some nonpublished images for Princess and the Pea which I have put in another post for today.

Now for the illustrations:







Thursday, January 12, 2012

UK: Celebrity Big Brother Fairy Tale Challenge



First off, I must issue my disclaimer. I have only seen part of a Big Brother episode once when I was visiting someone and had little control over my environment. If you love it, no judgment here. This is just to explain that I understand the concept of the show but have very, very limited firsthand experience.



But in my endeavours to show where fairy tales appear in pop culture (as where as everywhere else) I would feel remiss if I didn't mention that the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother had a fairy tale challenge this week. After all, it has had a lot of coverage this week, too, in entertainment news. I have no comments. I haven't viewed. I am rather ignorant, but still fascinated. Here goes:



From STV:

Most celebrities live a life that seems like a fairytale for us ‘normal’ people - but this week the contestants on Celebrity Big Brother have been challenged to do it for real, in order to be successful in their shopping task.

The stars – who include axed X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza, actress Natalie Cassidy, WAG Natasha Giggs and Loose Women’s Denise Welch – must work together if they want to get their hands on money for the house budget.

They have been tasked to carry out various tasks while playing the roles of much-loved fairytale characters including Pinocchio, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Geppetto. These include rescuing Rapunzel from the tower that imprisons her, and protecting the house from the Big Bad Wolf.



From UnrealityTV:

For this week’s shopping task, the Big Brother house and housemates have been transformed into a fairytale.

Yesterday, the housemates took part in the following challenges:

Rapunzel and The Prince – PASSED
The Prince (Gareth) managed to rescue Rapunzel (Georgia) from the tower by successfully climbing a near-horizontal ladder without falling into the deathly swamp.

Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf – FAILED
Red Riding Hood (Natalie) and the Big Bad Wolf (Nicola) failed their challenge because they didn’t manage to complete it in the 60 second time limit. The budget is taken down to 500 gold coins (£500).

The Three Little Pigs – ONGOING
The Three Little Pigs have so far managed to keep their straw house up and will continue to be tested throughout the day.

Beauty and the Beast – FAILED
In the diary room, The Beast (Andrew) had to rate how attractive he was against his fellow housemates. In the living area, Beauty (Kristina) had to decide how The Beast would rate himself against them. As Beauty had less than 10 correct matches, they failed and lost a further 100 gold coins taking the shopping budget down to £400.

Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears – FAILED
This morning, Goldilocks (Karissa) and the Three Bears (Denise) faced an eating challenge in the diary room. Presented with three bowls of horrid porridge in the diary room – cow’s urine porridge, spicy porridge and fishy porridge – Goldilocks had to decide which bowl was best for her and eat it. The Three Bears then had to eat the remaining two bowls. As Goldilocks failed to eat a complete bowl and the Three bears failed to eat two complete bowls, they failed the task and lost a further 100 gold coins.

I blockquoted quited a bit, but these were some of the best descriptions, scary as they may be, as I could find.


Wow. Fairy tales are really taking over. Are you ready? I am! Although maybe perhaps not for this...



The images came from In Pictures: Celebrity Big Brother 2012's fairy tale task!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

It’s the Journey: “Beauty and the Beast” vs. “Cinderella” by Joanna Novins

An article comparing two popular fairy tales and their strength as romance plots can be found at It’s the Journey: “Beauty and the Beast” vs. “Cinderella” by Joanna Novins. Here's an excerpt of the article which spends a splendid amount of time praising Robin McKinley's Beauty. Why, yes, that is always a worthy activity...


The first few paragraphs from the article:

Though I’m not a gambler, I’d be willing to bet that “Cinderella” is the fairy tale most commonly retold in modern-day romances. What’s more appealing than the mistreated scullery maid who, with the wave of a wand, is provided a complete makeover, including fabulous shoes, and entrée to a ball, where a handsome prince instantly falls in love with her?

But in my opinion, Cinderella and Prince Charming are the laziest hero and heroine ever. Sure, there’s that whole grain sorting/floor scrubbing/impossible task so she gets magical help thing, but really, all Cinderella has to do win the prince’s heart is get a makeover and show up. As for Prince Charming, all he has to do is be tenacious in his efforts to find the owner of the size 5 glass slipper. Time consuming, yes, but heroic? Meh.

Nothing new for SurLaLune readers but sometimes it's nice to read about Beauty and the Beast and how so many adore the tale...

Monday, December 19, 2011

Beauty and the Beast by the Northern Ballet



Northern Ballet has a new ballet production of Beauty and the Beast. I came across some press and foudn the ballet's website where these beautiful images were posted. Lovely. Wish I could see it! The images feature Martha Leebolt as Beauty with Ashley Dixon as the Beast. Photos by Jason Tozer.


From Traditional fairytale becomes ballet with a modern twist:

“I always go back to tales before Disney to find out where the stories come from. There are some wonderful Arabian versions of Beauty and the Beast that are quite dark but have a clear message. One version that inspired me years ago was the Cocteau movie which is wonderful, but that’s more for adults and I wanted to do something different,” says Nixon.

He wanted to give this classic fairytale a contemporary feel. “I was interested in how these ideas could apply to the world today. So the opening sequence looks like Made in Chelsea, or one of those reality TV shows, as well as a bit of a 50s look. It’s about how you look and being cool and yet into that I bring these fairies and sprites and goblins that everyone recognises from the story,” he says. “I wanted to use this idea of retail therapy and haute couture, so you see the girls coming home from their shopping trip with stacks of boxes and giant receipts and this led me to bring into the story this whole idea of debt. The father can’t pay these bills and the debt collectors come in from Gucci and they take the family home away and the family is left on the street.”









Monday, December 12, 2011

Fairy Tale Gifts 7: Paula Richey

Really, it's so much more interesting to read your fairy tale gift ideas than mine--probably because I live inside my head and hear me all the time--but thank you for sharing. Remember some of you will also get to read some new books, read more at  December Giveaway: Favorite Fairy Tale Things.

Now some ideas from Paula Richey:


I'd like a new copy of Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley... My old paperback is showing some wear!




One of my online friends just posted that she glued a little resin door to the wall beside her fireplace--and when her preschooler noticed it, told her that it was a fairy door, stuck shut with magic. Now the little girl likes to wait there whispering to the fairies that they can come out and play.

I need a little door! ;)

Heidi's note: Oh, I love the fairy doors! These were pictured at The "Fairy Door" Phenomenon In Ann Arbor, Michigan but there's plenty more to be seen on the internet.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Disney Characters As Humans by Jirka Väätäinen


Discovered via What Disney Princesses Would Look Like If They Were Actually Human by Jamie Frevele from the artist's blog at Jirka Väätäinen.

From the article:

Jirka Väätäinen is a graphic design student at the Arts University College at Bournemouth in the UK, and he’s come up with some really interesting interpretations of what Disney's animated heroines would look like in real life using photo manipulation
I really enjoyed these and thought you may, too.




This is the most recent and strongest celebrity influence--definitely some Amanda Seyfried in his version of Rapunzel.










Disney Princesses as Cover Models by Petite Tiaras


Oh, me oh my. I have to devote a few posts to Disney princesses this week because I really enjoyed these on different levels. First up, found at 13 Disney Princesses Magically Transformed Into Magazine Cover Models by Jill Pantozzi and originally from Petite Tiaras who I believe created them. Love the tag lines, too.