‘Beauty and the Beast’ Short Imagines How Gaston and Le Fou Met (Exclusive Video)

Ever wonder how Beauty and the Beast’s scene-stealing duo Gaston and Le Fou met?

So did one very creative 12-year-old. Ahead of the release of Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, the studio teamed up with Tongal (an independent creative network with a global community of more than 120,000 writers, directors and animators) and Young Storytellers to give a group of children a sneak peek of the film on the Disney lot. Then, they were paired with their mentors to write scripts inspired by their favorite characters from the film. Tongal then matched these Young Storytellers’ scripts with its network of creators who turned them into live-action and animated short films.

Here, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively debuts one of these projects, Le Fouston, a short film about how Gaston and his dedicated side-kick Le Fou met. The story was created by 12-year-old Robert Nelson, and the stop-motion animated film was directed by Tongal creator Kevin Ulrich with music by Trevor Gomes. 

The Young Storytellers got the added surprise of seeing their projects come to life on the big screen with a premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. After the screening, they were surprised by a video greeting with actors from the film, Luke Evans (Gaston) and Josh Gad (Le Fou).

Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson, had a record-breaking opening weekend, earning $170 million in North America and $350 million globally. 

Watch the short film above.

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