Advertisement

Ewan McGregor couldn't nail his French Beauty and the Beast accent, sounds 'totally Mexican'

McLumiere... Ewan struggled with French accent on Beauty and the Beast - Credit: Disney/PA
McLumiere… Ewan struggled with French accent on Beauty and the Beast – Credit: Disney/PA

Ewan McGregor has said that he might have to re-record his lines in the forthcoming live-action remake of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ because he couldn’t nail his French accent.

Appearing on the Graham Norton Show, the ‘Trainspotting’ star, who is playing the anthropomorphic candlestick Lumiere in the film, said he his accent came out rather more Mexican than French.

“I’m married to a French woman, more than 20 years, and I thought ‘yeah, I can do the French accent,” he said.

“And I got there, and I couldn’t. At all. There were so many people there. They said ‘don’t do the “rrr”.’ They didn’t want the French ‘rrr’.

(Credit: Disney)
(Credit: Disney)

“So when you take the French ‘rrr’ out… you suddenly become totally Mexican.

“I was sitting there thinking ‘oh sh*t, I can’t do it!’ So I’m going to have to re-do all my voice, I think.”

The time may be past for all that, Ewan, what with the movie due out on March 17, but perhaps it’s more French-sounding than he thinks. Or Lumiere now has an exciting hispanic twist.

McGregor stars alongside Sir Ian McKellen as his household rival Cogsworth, while among the human characters, Emma Watson plays Belle to Dan Stevens’ Beast.

Elsewhere, there are roles for Luke Evans as the boozy blowhard Gaston, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s father, Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts, and Frozen’s Josh Gad as La Fou.

Read more
Goodfellas: 10 things you never knew
Ben Affleck responds to Sad Affleck
How Sixth Sense ingeniously signposts its twist