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The newest Beauty & the Beast is “Beastly”

posted by Pretty Tough | Girls Who Are Fun Fierce & Feminine
Monday, June 15, 2009 at 2:01pm EDT

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Pretty Smart: One of our fave characters is Belle.

Now comes word their will be a live-action, modern retelling of the children’s classic “Beauty and the Beast” told from the Beast’s point of view.

CBS Films has signed actress/singer Vanessa Hudgens to star in the TV movie “Beastly”. Hudgens will play the role of Linda (the modern Belle) while media mogul Mary-Kate Olsen has signed on Olsen to play Kendra, a witch who puts a curse to the school’s most popular guy to teach him a lesson.

Kyle is the handsome egocentric student transformed to a beast when he asks Kendra to the prom as a practical joke and Hudgens helps him learn true beauty from within.

So who will play the beast? Current Burberry spokesman Alex Pettyfer has been chosen to appear alongside Vanessa in the film. Alex is 19 years old and most recently starred alongside Emma Roberts in the movie Wild Child.

Also cast in a supporting role is Neil Patrick Harris.

The film is based on Alex Flinn’s novel highly praised novel Beastly, and will be directed by Daniel Barnz

A fully-fleshed out beast and a much more beautiful beauty (on the inside, that is) make Flinn’s novel truly awe-inspiring and we’re hoping the film captures her vision.

Book Description:

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Production commences June 13 in Montreal, Variety reports.