Guillermo del Toro to Direct 'Beauty and the Beast' Tale for Warner Bros.

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Guillermo del Toro is attached to direct Beauty, a new take on the Beauty and the Beast tale set up at Warner Bros. Harry Potter actress Emma Watson is attached to star. At the same time, the studio has hired Andrew Davies to write the script.

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The deal has been in the works since last spring, when del Toro first began working with producers Denise De Novi and Alison Greenspan on a take. The project was initially an adaptation of the novel Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of the Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley but it has evolved since. Watson came on board last summer but it was always a question whether del Toro would act as a producer or join the project as a director as well.

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Del Toro has a tendency to take on many projects at a time. The filmmaker, who is currently shooting Pacific Rim in Toronto, is a consultant for DreamWorks Animation and is directing Trollhunters for the studio. He also is developing a Haunted Mansion movie at Disney and is attached to direct both a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a Frankenstein project at Universal. 

Davies is a British scribe who’s worked on all three Bridget Jones’ Diary movies as well as last year’s The Three Musketeers.

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