BB Exclusive: Audra McDonald and Gugu Mbatha-Raw Chat Beauty and the Beast

Audra McDonald and Gugu Mbatha-Raw opened up about their experiences from filming Beauty And The Beast during the cast’s recent Los Angeles press conference. For those who don’t know, Audra plays Madame Garderobe while Gugu plays Plumette in the live action reboot.

Audra on why she joined the film: “Many things, but one thing that was really important to me – I mean, I said yes the minute that Disney called because you say yes when Disney calls. If they told me that, you know, you were gonna sell churros in the park, I’d be like, yeah, I’m there.”

Audra on Emma Watson and the importance of joining the film: “…knowing not only did it [Beauty And The Beast] have this incredible creative team but that Emma Watson was going to be Belle, and knowing how much Emma has affected girls of my daughter’s age, and my daughter is someone who now asks for people to donate money to charities for her birthday gifts instead of presents. And that’s because of you, Emma.

So knowing full well that Emma was going to make sure that Belle was somebody who was independent, who was strong, who was educated, who was sticking up for girls and women, and who does all the rescuing in the film. That’s why I knew it was going to be important for me to be a part of and for my kids to see.”

Gugu on bringing an inanimte object to life: “…it was an interesting challenge, and I was so obsessed with the original Disney film. You know, it came out when I was 8 years old, so I was kind of really excited to be a part of this. And for me it was working on the French accent, both myself and Ewan had the same dialect coach, and then just playing in the studio with Bill encouraging us to embrace that sort of inner child and that real sort of let’s pretend kind of freedom.

And for me having done a few serious roles that year to be able to embrace the feather duster Plumette and to also be able to really not be limited by you own face and your own body that you can really, as I say, just play, was so joyful.

Gugu on the transformation scene: “…when we all got to, be on set for that transformation sequence, and all these legendary actors are there, and be swirling around that Disney ballroom, it was just really, really magical.”

Make sure to stay tune to our site for the rest of the week for other goodies from the press conference. Beauty And The Beast opens in theaters on March 17.