Would the world have been able to handle Beauty and the Beast and The Beyoncé? Because that could have been a reality. Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon wanted Bey for the role of Plumette the feather duster in his live-action remake of the 1991 Disney classic. Unfortunately, “it wasn’t a big enough part,” he told Yahoo! Movies. The part of Plumette eventually went to Gugu Mbatha-Raw. And ever-gracious Beyoncé, along with Blue Ivy and Jay-Z, still supported the film by attending the L.A. premiere together.
Beyoncé and Condon had previously worked together on 2006’s Dreamgirls, one of only two musicals Beyoncé has done (the other being Carmen: A Hip Hopera). She’s also appeared in comedy films like The Pink Panther and Austin Powers: Goldmember. With her busy schedule and multitude of projects, it makes sense that Beyoncé would rather focus on the big parts than take a supporting role, but we have to point out that she did voice Queen Tara in 2013’s Epic, which, as far as we can tell, isn’t a lead. Her most recent on-screen role (besides music videos) was Sharon in Obsessed in 2009.
This isn’t the only time Beyoncé turned down voice work with Disney. She was considered for the part of Tiana, the protagonist of The Princess and the Frog — and the first Black Disney Princess — but lost the role to her Dreamgirls co-star Anika Noni Rose after not wanting to audition.
Clamoring to audition for Disney, on the other hand, was Idris Elba, who revealed in September that he’d sent in a tape of himself singing in a bid to play Gaston. Elba, who has a musical theatre background, “called and said, ‘I want in!'” but speculated that the casting department thought he was “too old.” The part eventually went to 38-year-old Luke Evans, instead of 45-year-old Elba. But there was no bad blood. “I love you, Luke, you know that,” said Elba.
Condon, too, remains a fan of Beyoncé’s, remarking to Yahoo! Movies that her visual album Lemonade may be the future of the movie musical. And even without Beyoncé’s talents, Beauty and the Beast made more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. As Knowles herself said, “Always stay gracious, best revenge is your papers.”
