03/12/2012 - Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux, André Dussollier, and Eduardo Noriega shine in the cast of a Franco-German co-production produced by Eskwad and Pathé

Christophe Gans (photo) has been shooting his fourth feature Beauty and the Beast since November 5 in Berlin. The director of Crying Freeman (1995), Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), and Silent Hill [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2006) has brought together a cast including international star Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), newcomer Léa Seydoux (Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
interview: Ursula Meier
film profile], Farewell, My Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benoît Jacquot
film profile]) , André Dussollier (who this year was on set of Les reines du ring) and Spanish actor Eduardo Noriega (A Gun in Each Hand). They will appear beside Audrey Lamy, Sara Giraudeau, Nicolas Gob, and German actress Yvonne Catterfeld, among others.

Written by the director with Sandra Vo-Anh based on the fairytale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve (that already inspired a film by Jean Cocteau in 1946 and an animation feature by Disney in 1991), the screenplay follows a ruined merchant who moves to the countryside with his six children. Among them is Beauty, his youngest daughter, who is merry and graceful. During an exhausting journey, the merchant discovers the Beast's magic domain, and the latter condemns him to death for having stolen a rose from him. Feeling responsible, Beauty decides to sacrifice herself instead of her father. A strange life, made up of magical, joyful, and melancholy moments, awaits her in the Beast’s castle. Every night, Beauty and the Beast meet and learn to discover and tame each other. Beauty tries to discover the Beast and his domain’s secrets. Her dreams reveal snippets of the past and a tragic story: This solitary and ferocious being was once a majestic prince. Fighting against the dangers, Beauty will try to liberate the Beast from his curse…

Produced by Richard Grandpierre for Eskwad and by Jérôme Seydoux for Pathé, Beauty and the Beast is co-produced by TF1 Films Production and by the Germans from Achtzehnte Babelsberg Film. Filming is set to last 11 weeks exclusively in Berlin until February 1. Christophe Beaucarne is the film's director of photography and Alexandre Desplat is handling its soundtrack. Pathé is to distribute the film in France and handle its international sales.

Eskwad is also to finish shooting Jérôme Salle’s Zulu (read more - starring Orlando Bloom and Forest Whitaker) at the end of the week, and is to release Eric Besnard’s Mes héros (starring Clovis Cornillac, Josiane Balasko, and Gérard Jugnot) in cinemas on December 12.

(Translated from French)