Unfortunately, it looks as though Guillermo del Toro has dropped out of directing the live-action “Beauty & the Beast” adaptation, which Emma is reported to be starring in:
Did the recent announcement of Disney’s live-action reimagining of the project kill it, you ask? Nope, Warner Bros. is still going ahead with the project, they’ll just have to do it with a new director.
Why did del Toro drop out? Why does he drop out of half the projects he’s attached to direct? Because like folks like Ridley Scott or Leonardo DiCaprio, del Toro tends to over-commit to projects that run long and then he realizes he’ll never be able to make the 16,000 projects he had in development (remember his “Frankenstein” movie at Universal that didn’t go anywhere for a random, off-the-top-of-my-head example?).
WB is currently looking for new directors to take over and Watson is apparently still attached. But del Toro’s DNA will still be all over the movie. He wrote the script and he’s still producing the movie. But that can be said for a lot of GdT-produced movies (remember “Mama”?). We’re not saying that a live-action revisionist take of “Beauty & The Beast” written and produced by del Toro isn’t interesting, but it might just end up like one of the many watered-down projects he’s handed off to other filmmakers in his stead.