Disney is moving with the times by putting its first ever gay scene in the upcoming live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
The character of LeFou, played by Josh Gad, will explore his sexuality after developing feelings for macho leading man Gaston, played by Luke Evans.
"He's confused about what he wants. It's somebody who's just realising that he has these feelings," says director Bill Condon told Attitude magazine.
"Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that's what has its pay-off at the end, which I don't want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."
In the 1991 animated film, LeFou is the hapless sidekick of Gaston, best-known for singing 'Gaston'.
The song includes lines like, "For there's no man in town half as manly / Perfect, a pure paragon", which may have already been read as indicating LeFou's romantic intentions.
It's not the only modernising of the classic - lead star Emma Watson is said to have made the tale more feminist, with her character Belle portrayed as an independent inventor.
"In the animated movie, it's her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle," Watson told Entertainment Weekly.
"There was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn't fit in, other than she liked books... So we created a backstory for her."
Beauty and the Beast is released in New Zealand on March 30.
Newshub.
