BEAST- LY ROLE
THE FORMER DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR TAKES ON A MONSTER ROLE
Downton’s Dan gets in character
Dan Stevens is used to playing suave heroes. He was, after all, the epitome of a charming British gentleman when he starred as Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, the show that made him famous.
However, his latest leading role is a far cry from dapper cousin Matthew. Dan (34) plays the Beast in the new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, and spends most of the movie looking hideous.
He didn’t have to wear a mask, though. Transforming him into a monster was done thanks to CGI (computer generated imagery) after his scenes were shot. “It was motion-capture puppeteering for the body and the face was done separately, using different technology. They brought
it all to life,” he explains.
But there was still a fair amount of discomfort involved in getting him to become a convincing gigantic creature. “When I was on set, I was on stilts in a big muscle suit covered in Lycra,” reveals Dan, who stars with Harry Potter star Emma Watson in the musical.
“Everyone else looked gorgeous and beautiful. Emma, her dress – beautiful. The sets were incredible. And there’s me, just sweating away through the set and looking like a crash-test hippo on stilts.”
He kept asking director Bill Condon for reassurance – “This is going to look different, right? This is going to be okay?” – and felt a little better when he saw the imaging team building up the Beast’s face via computer. “These guys at Disney have been putting in every digital hair, every digital pore on my digital face.”
The tricky computer work meant Dan essentially had to give two performances – one from the neck down and the other from the neck up. He acted out the body movements on set using the stilts to make him taller, and the body suit fitted with trackers so his torso and limbs could be enlarged on screen.
At a later date, he replayed the scene sitting in front of a bank of cameras, his head covered in ultra-violet make-up. Digital technology was then used to create the Beast’s face. Although it meant twice as much filming, it was still an enjoyable experience, says Dan.
“The whole thing felt very magical in a way and it was pure magic how they fused these two experiences together. It was all very groundbreaking, weird, mysterious and wonderful.”
To prepare for the role, Dan chatted to two other actors who’ve worked extensively with CGI – Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films and Caesar in two Planet of the Apes movies, and Mark Ruffalo, who was transformed into The Hulk in The Avengers thanks to digital wizardry.
“Andy was great at reminding me to just disregard the freaky stuff and to trust that
all will be well.”
Learning to move around on stilts was tricky, including having to dance with Emma.
“It was a very, very intense dance training process,” he says. “Physically, the Beast is the most challenging role
I’ve taken on. The condition
I had to have my body in to puppeteer that suit on stilts was like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.”
He was glad he’d never have to see the stilts again once filming finished. “Those stilts are something I wish I could have burned,” he admits.
Dan’s not known for his musical ability but does sings in the movie, although he jokes the song might not have made it into the final cut. His South African-born wife Susie Hariet (41), who is a jazz singer, was invaluable when it came to preparing for the vocal demands of the role, he tells. “She helped with my audition, which I was terrified of.”
As trying as parts of the filming process were, Dan says he’s happy he did it. “The animated version is one of my favourite movies, so to get to do this version with a group of amazing people was unbelievable.”
As well as filming Beauty and the Beast, Dan has also been working on a TV series called Legion, based on the Marvel Comics books. His character has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, so Dan prepared for the role by talking to experts about the condition.
Viewers hoping to see Dan harking back to his Downton days and displaying his dashing good looks will be disappointed – in Legion, he looks very different and also speaks with a flawless American accent.
Dan, Susie and their children, Willow (8) and Aubrey (5), have lived in New York for several years and have no plans to leave. “I feel very inspired here,” he reveals. “I love it. Every day there’s always something weird and new here, and I like being surrounded by weird and new.”
‘ When I was on set, I was on stilts in a big muscle suit covered in Lycra’