Lefou beauty and the beast gay
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He's the one Gaston should marry. [In the animated film,] LeFou is a punching bag, he’s not a character, so you turn them into people," Condon said. Josh Gad later shared regrets about how this was handled.
In Gad's new memoir, In Gad We Trust (via Entertainment Weekly), he goes in-depth about his regrets and frustrations with LeFou being touted as a groundbreaking character for LGBTQIA+ representation.
Here was the decision they came up with:
…ultimately landed on the side of LeFou was truly in awe of Gaston, and that was not driven by any sexual desire whatsoever but rather a deep-seated love, appreciation, and belief in this person he had served alongside in battle for many years.
Considering the creative team decided that LeFou’s love for Gaston was more in admiration and not in anything sexual, it’s confusing why Bill Condon would later call LeFou’s infatuation with his master “an exclusively gay moment.” Maybe back then, it was Disney’s way of trying to be inclusive but not fully knowing how.
If queer audiences watching wanted to see themselves in Beauty and the Beast, more could have been done to make that happen than a few seconds of a same-sex dancing scene.
LeFou's queerness may have come together in an attempt to be inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community, but it also brought dissatisfaction to some for being too ambiguous and providing little significance.
Josh Gad Shares Regrets About Gay LeFou In Disney’s Live-Action ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Remake
The actor is opening up about the public response and the global controversy surrounding his Beauty and the Beast character in his new memoir…
Eight years after the release of Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, actor Josh Gad is reflecting on the controversy surrounding the film’s so-called “exclusively gay moment.” In his just-released memoir In Gad We Trust, Gad claims that he “never once” played his character LeFou as gay, and brushes off the implication that the 2017 film was intended to feature Disney’s “first-ever gay character” despite a brief scene towards the end of the film in which his character, LeFou, was seen dancing with another man.
“I for one certainly didn’t exactly feel like LeFou was who the queer community had been wistfully waiting for,” Gad writes.
Through this brief, unexplored representation in Beauty and the Beast, the Disney remake proved itself to be the stepping stone towards greater inclusivity that would later follow upcoming Disney movies.
Watch Josh Gad as LeFou in the musical romance fantasy playing on your Disney+ subscription. He's been behind several successful and acclaimed films, including Chicago and Dreamgirls.
Condon talked about feeling the pressure of devoted fanbases when adapting these musicals off-stage. The fact simply was that “never once was the moment in this film described to me as something that we were going to hang a lantern on and pat ourselves on the back for. I mean, if I were gay, I’m sure I’d be pissed.”
Gad also notes that he “never once discussed” LeFou’s sexuality with the movie’s creative team, and described the much-buzzed-about dancing scene as “harmless” and “a fun blink-and-you’ll-miss-it little beat.”
Gad says that prior to production commencing that he, director Bill Condon, and screenwriters Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos had a “casual (but ultimately seismic) conversation… about the specific nature of LeFou’s devotion to Gaston (Luke Evans).
Gad emphasizes that it was supposed to be a "sweet and innocuous moment" but it ended up being"both too little and not enough". At the same time, he would have been “delighted” to portray the Disney sidekick as queer if that was the direction the creative team went in. However, the Frozen voice actor wrote about the controversy of his character in his memoir In Gad We Trust (via EW) with an understanding of why some LGBTQIA+ fans weren’t satisfied with Disney's attempt at representation:
I for one certainly didn't exactly feel like LeFou was who the queer community had been wistfully waiting for.
However, the real controversy came when director Bill Condon said in his 2017 interview with Attitude that LeFou is a character who doesn’t know whether he simply idolizes Gaston or is in love with him, making the remake’s new addition “a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.” Josh Gad pointed out that “we had invited hell and fury” when Disney congratulated themselves on an ambiguous LGBTQIA moment that wasn’t really explored.
You may likeThe Annie Award winner said that before production began on Beauty and the Beast, the creative team got together to decide on what level of love LeFou had for Gaston.
That show was sung-through onstage. "That was such a debacle because it was an offhanded comment in an interview with a gay magazine in London," Condon said. It was two hours and 40 minutes. If LeFou was going to be gay, the movie should have done far more to explore this and him being gay should not have been teased in the first place. So that part was good."
Condon's intent for LeFou was much purer.
While Gad was responsible for coming up with LeFou’s widely talked-about ending of him dancing with another man, the American actor said he saw that more as a “fun blink-and-you’ll-miss-it little beat." As the villainous Gaston dies at the end of the movie, you can see LeFou dancing with another man as a way to establish his newfound independence away from his arrogant master.
Josh Gad has previously said he regretted that moment being promoted as “exclusively gay” in not going far enough to bring justice to a real gay character.
But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”
Gad felt that “the quote in and of itself was delightful, beautiful, and perfect… but for those three fateful words: ‘EXCLUSIVELY GAY MOMENT.'”
The actor makes it clear throughout his discussion of the Beauty and the Beast debacle that he would have been “delighted” to play a gay LeFou.
The consensus was that LeFou's devotion to Gaston was not romantic or sexual in any way and that Beauty and the Beast's creative team never discussed seriously exploring LeFou's sexuality.
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As such, Gad agreed to the dancing moment, because he thought it was "cheeky" and "harmless." Gad thinks it would have remained this way if not for the way "we pointed it out and seemingly congratulated ourselves." Condon, who is gay, felt pressured "to share his pride for some form of representation in the film" and "felt awful" about the effect of his comment.
The film starred Emma Watson as Belle, but it was the inclusion of an openly gay character that had some audiences up in arms — and now the director is addressing where things went wrong.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon discussed his intent for having the character of LeFou (Josh Gad) be openly gay.
In his memoir, Gad breaks down how there were behind-the-scenes discussions about LeFou's loyalty and feelings for Gaston (Luke Evans).