Story of movie Beastly Film : Beastly is a 2011 American romantic fantasy drama film loosely based on Alex Flinn's 2007 novel of the same name. It is a retelling of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast and is set in modern-day New York City. The film was written and directed by Daniel Barnz and stars Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens.
| Beastly | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Daniel Barnz |
| Produced by | Susan Cartsonis Roz Weisberg Michael Flynn |
| Screenplay by | Daniel Barnz |
| Based on | Beastly by Alex Flinn |
| Starring | Alex Pettyfer Vanessa Hudgens Mary-Kate Olsen Peter Krause LisaGay Hamilton Neil Patrick Harris Regina King |
| Music by | Marcelo Zarvos |
| Cinematography | Mandy Walker |
| Edited by | Thomas J. Nordberg |
| Distributed by | CBS Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $43.2 million |
Beastly was expected to be distributed to theaters by CBS Films on July 30, 2010. However, the film's release was delayed until March 18, 2011, in order to avoid a clash with the release of Charlie St. Cloud, which starred Zac Efron, Hudgens's then-boyfriend with whom she had a strong following at the time. In January 2011, the release was moved forward to March 4, 2011.
Screenplay
Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer) is the arrogant and vain son of news anchor Rob Kingson (Peter Krause). Kyle bullies Kendra Hilferty (Mary-Kate Olsen), not knowing she is a witch; she transforms him into a hairless, scarred, heavily-tattooed shell of his former self. If Kyle does not find someone who loves him by the next spring he will stay altered permanently. Kyle is taken to live in a private house with their maid Zola Davies (LisaGay Hamilton) and the blind tutor Will (Neil Patrick Harris). Both are comforts to Kyle when his father, unable to deal with his transformation, has abandoned him.
As spring nears, Kyle finds himself infatuated with Lindy Taylor (Vanessa Hudgens), a former classmate he had avoided. He rescues her drug-addicted father from two dealers, shooting one; the other vows to kill Lindy. Kyle persuades Lindy's father to allow her to move in with him. At first, Kyle uses a false identity, refuses to see Lindy, and hides from her, which angers her to the point that she stops speaking to him. Kyle eventually reveals his face and the two begin to warm up to each other. Kyle writes a letter professing his love for Lindy but does not give it to her for fear of rejection. He visits Kendra to plead for more time; she refuses, but agrees to restore Will's vision and grant green cards to Zola's three children in Jamaica if he gets Lindy to fall in love with him.
The surviving drug dealer lands in jail. Kyle and Lindy visit Lindy's hospitalized father. He gives her the letter but regrets it when she tells him she considers him a good friend. Lindy calls him after reading the letter, but a heartbroken Kyle does not answer the phone. Persuaded by Will and Zola, Kyle goes to meet Lindy one last time before she leaves on a school trip to Machu Picchu. Kyle tells her to go, but as she leaves, Lindy tells him that she loves him, breaking the curse. Kyle's former self is restored but Lindy does not recognize him and tries to call Hunter but Kyle's phone rings instead. When Lindy realizes what happened, the two share a passionate kiss on the side of the street.
After the curse is lifted Will wakes up with the ability to see, and Zola receives the green cards. Kendra approaches Rob Kingson's office as a new intern, implying that she will test Rob like she did Kyle.
There was an alternate ending that was filmed where Lindy gets kidnapped by the drug dealer and in the process Kyle gets shot. As he lays injured in his arms she confesses her love to him, breaking the curse in a fashion more closely based on the book and the original Beauty and the Beast story. This ending was not used in the official release however it was used in the official video game on the Wii.
- Alex Pettyfer as Kyle Kingson/Hunter
- Vanessa Hudgens as Linda "Lindy" Taylor
- Mary-Kate Olsen as Kendra Hilferty
- Neil Patrick Harris as Will Fratalli
- LisaGay Hamilton as Zola Davies
- Peter Krause as Rob Kingson
- Dakota Johnson as Sloan Hagen
- Erik Knudsen as Trey Madison
- Rhiannon Moller-Trotter as Halloween Partygoer
- Regina King as Letisha
- David Francis as Dr. Davis
- Brian Eastman as Dan Granburg
- Gio Perez as Victor Barrel
- Roc Lafortune as Lindy's father
Development
| I was very inspired by 'Say Anything.' I thought there was this kind of rawness and visceral qualities of those years. Being 18 and 19 and what those years are like. So, I wanted to translate that into this film as well.
- Daniel Barnz, director of Beastly on writing the screenplay |
The film is based on Alex Flinn's 2007 supernatural romance novel Beastly, and has been in production since CBS Films bought the rights in December 2007. In February 2009, it was announced by Amy Baer, President and CEO of CBS Films, that Daniel Barnz would direct the film and write the screenplay. Susan Cartsonis produced the film through Storefront Films and Roz Weisberg co-produced it. Initially, the executives wanted a late 2008 theatrical release; however, the WGA strike prevented that possibility.
Baer expressed excitement about the director, saying, "Daniel's fresh vision makes him one of the most exciting directors of his generation. We are thrilled to partner with him as he brings his unique voice to arguably the most universally resonant myth in storytelling." Barnz anticipated bringing an indie sensibility to Flinn's story. "It's a very commercial idea that I get to tell in a highly artistic fashion," he said. Barnz also said; "There was this sort of hyper-modern version of this story and that it was told from his perspective, which we'd never seen before and thematically, because it's all about beauty and how you look and inner beauty that this was such a great story set in the teenage world and for teenagers, because it has such a great message to it".
Barnz's script was inspired by the film Say Anything. He "immediately fell for it, because saw that there was an amazing opportunity to tell a modern version of this fairytale and loved the idea of it." Barnz was happy that the story would be told from the beast's perspective and that it focused more on the romance elements than the supernatural.
Design
In his role as Hunter, Pettyfer's appearance was altered with heavy makeup and prosthetics. Hunter's appearance differs from the description in the novel; he has no fur or fangs. Pettyfer was pleased with the revision; he said, "I was very happy to know I wasn't going to be furry. Question is, were you happy I wasn't furry? Well, I think the audience will be happy. This beast make-up is phenomenal. You're talking to someone who is a fanatic about it and I've never seen anything that looks remotely similar to this."
The makeup consisted of 67 pieces; seven pieces went on his head and 60 tattoos and individual scars were applied after the full-body makeup. The facial prosthetics and tattoos took almost three hours to apply and the full body makeup took the artists six hours to finish. About his transformation, Pettyfer said, "It really affected me because as soon as I shaved my head it kind of put me in this weird place, the same place which really helped me with the role a lot. But at the same time, it kind of is a challenge because you are fighting personally with your own problems off set, but then onset you have a great resource to go to."
Tony Gardner and Alterian, Inc. designed and created the prosthetics and tattoos. Jamie Kelman handled Pettyfer's daily makeup application. Hudgens described the beast's look as "crazy" and that it moved her in "a really weird and peculiar way." Several days before the announced production date, several members of the cast were photographed en route to a wardrobe studio for fittings. The costumes and clothing used in the film were designed by Suttirat Anne Larlarb.
Filming
Beastly was one of the first feature films to be produced and distributed by CBS Films; it had a budget of $17 million for filming and marketing. Production began on June 13, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and ended in August that year. The first clip of the official Beastly trailer was filmed in Chicago, and used Walter Payton College Prep High School as Buckston Academy High School. Old Montreal and Laval were used as filming locations, and Mount Royal Park in Montreal served as Central Park in New York and other outdoor locations. Local Montreal diner Place Milton was also used as a location, and was renamed Cafe Santiago for the film. Filming was completed in 45 days.
The Quebec government announced on June 12, 2009 that it would increase its tax credit for foreign TV and film producers filming there from 25 per cent of labor expenses to 25 per cent of the entire budget of productions shot there. The producers of Beastly chose to film in Montreal before the announcement of tax-paying increase.
Hudgens left for Montreal to film following the MTV Movie Awards. "I'm laid-back about it," she said. On June 4, 2009, Hudgens and Pettyfer arrived in Montreal. Neil Patrick Harris also went to Montreal to shoot his scenes, and concurrently for his lead role in an independent film. Hudgens was the first to finish shooting in order to promote the film Bandslam. Re-shoots were conducted in 2010 due to the delays to the film's release and in order to "emphasize the romantic relationship between the two main characters".
Music and soundtrack
The film score was composed by Marcelo Zarvos. Songs by Swedish indie band Marching Band were featured in the film. Also featured was Natalia Kills' second single, "Wonderland". The film's soundtrack was released on March 1, 2011, and the score album was released on March 15, 2011; both albums were released by Lakeshore Records.
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