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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Original Beauty and the Beast star Paige O'Hara thinks Emma Watson will make a great Belle. The 60-year-old actress, who voiced Belle in Disney's 1991 animated movie, said in an interview with USA Today that Watson, 26, is a perfect pick for the new, live-action version.
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"I think that if I were producing that movie, Emma Watson would've been my first choice for Belle," O'Hara said of the Harry Potter star.
"I was just really happy they went with Emma," she added. "She's got the intelligence, she's got the humor. I think she's going to be really, really special."
The original Disney film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with music by Alan Menken. Robby Benson voiced the Beast, with Richard White as Gaston and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts.
"This was not the norm, [but] I recorded with Richard White and Robby Benson in the same room," O'Hara revealed in an interview with WTOP.
"It was much harder for [Disney] and much more expensive, but I think ultimately the relationships came across a lot better in the film because of it," she suggested.
The new Beauty and the Beast will open in theaters March 17, 2017. Lansbury delighted fans by performing the original movie's theme song at the film's 25th anniversary screening Sunday in New York.
