I finally got to see the movie earlier today. Luke Evans was a good call to play Gaston, I thought he was good though still think they could of cast someone more macho to play the role.
I like how both Le'Fou and Gaston's stories were more expanded on, such as "the war" and Le'Fou realising his best friend is more evil than he realise.
And the scene where they go to that particular windmill in Paris makes me wonder if it is a hint of Disney's next movie they may remake into a live action?
The scenes with in the snow makes me wonder, what if there was live action remake of the Christmas special? I'd love to see that even if it has less budget than the movie, as long as Emma Watson, Dan Stevens (and Tim Curry) reprise their roles.
Mystic Monkey wrote:(skulls in Gaston's eyes) Nooooo ooooone lies like Gaston, no one dies like Gaston, can exemplify boneheaded dicks like Gaston.
Having seen it, while Richard White remains the classic Gaston with a much deeper voice, Luke Evans was a pretty good Gaston in his own way.
Ironically his "fall to your death" scream was nowhere near as high-pitched as the original. No one falls like Gaston - not even Gaston!
Douglas P. Peterson wrote: Mystic Monkey wrote:(skulls in Gaston's eyes) Nooooo ooooone lies like Gaston, no one dies like Gaston, can exemplify boneheaded dicks like Gaston.
Douglas P. Peterson wrote:
I don't recall saying that.
I'm just saying I prefer someone more macho for the role of Gaston, not that Luke Evans did a bad job.
Douglas P. Peterson wrote: Mystic Monkey wrote:(skulls in Gaston's eyes) Nooooo ooooone lies like Gaston, no one dies like Gaston, can exemplify boneheaded dicks like Gaston.
Douglas P. Peterson wrote:
I'm just saying I prefer someone more macho for the role of Gaston, not that Luke Evans did a bad job.
I don't think he did a bad job, but I definitely felt other actors could have done better. Like John Hamm or Patrick Warburton or someone along those lines.
MickeysPal wrote:
Douglas P. Peterson wrote: Mystic Monkey wrote:(skulls in Gaston's eyes) Nooooo ooooone lies like Gaston, no one dies like Gaston, can exemplify boneheaded dicks like Gaston.
Douglas P. Peterson wrote:
I'm just saying I prefer someone more macho for the role of Gaston, not that Luke Evans did a bad job.
I don't think he did a bad job, but I definitely felt other actors could have done better. Like John Hamm or Patrick Warburton or someone along those lines.
I was thinking more along the lines of WWE. Someone both full of them selves yet got the muscles to back it up. John Morrison so far comes to mind but I don't think he's no where near roughly the size of a barge. John Cena maybe if he's willing to dye his har or wear a wig for the role.
I'd probably say, if I were to even consider watching the Live Action Remake (let's just say certain directorial decisions for a certain character drove me away and leave it at that), Luke Evans ultimately made the better Gaston than Richard White did, regarding characterization anyways (I won't get into physical appearance stuff).
Richard White did very well with the material he was given, don't get me wrong, and he certainly acted very well. There's nothing against Richard White's acting ability or his overall portrayal. Unfortunately, Gaston himself in the 1991 film was very badly handled (in fact, I'd consider him as well as Ratcliffe as being among the worst-written Disney villains ever), largely thanks to Linda Woolverton insisting on basing Gaston on her ex-lovers in a rather crass way to push an agenda. For one thing, considering he doesn't exactly make any attempt to hide his more arrogant and jerkwad nature from anyone, or even that he's solely in anything for himself, even going by the moral of the tale, I find it extremely hard to believe the villagers would even like the guy, regardless of his handsome appearance. Actually, if anything, he would have been outright hated by everyone, not just Belle. Even under the pretenses of dramatic irony, that just doesn't work. Heck, the whole Gaston reprise thing is a showcase on HOW he was so badly written considering he openly bragged out key details of his evil plan in front of the entire tavern, and got cheered on when in reality, popular guy in the village or not, heck, Maurice's reputation as the village nut or not, he'd at the very least end up having to be talked out of it by the tavern patrons/villagers, if not arrested and put in the stockades for that (for goodness sakes, Hitler had to go to great lengths to keep his attempted genocide of the Jewish people a secret). At least Ratigan when he was gloating about his plans actually was talking to his own criminal organization instead of the whole of London, and besides which made sure they followed along by pretty much threatening to feed them to Felicia otherwise, while they supported Gaston for no apparent reason beyond genuine love for the guy (ironically, the first draft actually DID hint that the villagers were afraid of Gaston at one point, specifically during the wedding scene). In fact, probably the only reason he was even able to get as far as he did in the film was not due to any genuine smarts and skills on his end (far from it, him blurting out his evil plan like he did made Gaston look like a complete idiot, not to mention everyone else), but because most of the cast, especially including Belle in the climax, came across as idiots. Yes, even Belle came across as idiotic in the climax by even exposing the Beast to everyone, especially considering that she had just deduced seconds earlier that Gaston had arranged for Maurice's arrest to blackmail her into marrying him, and overall witnessing how the villagers behaved and even growing up in that village. And then she acts all surprised when Gaston decides to rabblerouse everyone into attacking the castle and Beast in particular (with the servants possibly being killed as collateral damage)? Even, no, ESPECIALLY when he's already demonstrated he was going to go very far into getting Belle to marry him by blackmailing her? I'm sorry, but were I in her position and he or someone like him did that, I would have pretty quickly realized that, if he (well, technically she in my case since I'm a guy, but still...) were to go as far as to blackmail me into marrying him when not taking no for an answer, he's certainly going to kill anyone he might even slightly consider a rival to my affections, and would reject the mirror option precisely BECAUSE of that. And personally, I find it hard to believe Gaston would be the type to beg for his life like a coward and then backstab Beast considering his explicit profession is a hunger, which was a matter of life and death especially back then and thus cannot afford to allow for any cowardice on his part.
Luke Evans' rendition, on the other hand, we could sort of see why the villagers would actually like him, besides physical appearances or his job profession. And quite frankly, we actually DO see a far more impressive display of his cunning, to the extent of actually coming across as terrifying, when he engineers the whole arrest of Maurice and framing him for insanity specifically to cover his own butt regarding his earlier murder attempt on him. The fact that they cut out the Gaston reprise also doesn't hurt either. Also helps that the film briefly implies that he may have some PTSD as well, which may explain his begging like a coward, though that's still unbecoming overall. Probably the only flaw in his character besides the whole begging for his life bit is the needless addition, or re-addition in this case since this was apparently from Woolverton's first draft for the film, of a lyric where he basically says he doesn't care if it was fair for him to shoot an animal from behind. It was a poor way to foreshadow his villainy since shooting an animal from behind is kind of the entire POINT behind hunting, since the animal is not supposed to know you're trying to hunt it down and kill it. Now, maybe if the lyrics were tweaked a bit to have Gaston specifically mention he prefers shooting enemy soldiers from behind during wartime, it would act as far better foreshadowing to his villainy especially considering that actually is considered a cowardly and despicable action on the battlefield (unless you're doing black ops, in which case, it's tolerable to a certain extent).
Now that it's been 2 years since the live action movie and I've had time to watch both versions, I have to say I prefer both of them in different ways.
Characterization wise, I prefer Luke Evans' live action Gaston. Much more complex, sinister and interesting. He was truly an egomaniac in a darker realm, and was to be taken seriously. His war past indicated he had experience killing humans, not just 'beasts.' This makes him much more sinister as a villain.
As far as amusement and entertainment value, I prefer the 1991 animated version with White's hammy singing. He's simply a hoot- a ridiculously pumped up and exaggerated figure of the male chauvinist pig. And that makes him a fun villain!