Beauty And The Beast Director Comments On Harry Potter Easter Eggs

Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon says that any Harry Potter references in the film are unintentional.

Savvy Harry Potter fans will have heard a familiar line in the clip from "Belle" released late last month. Emma Watson as Belle asks Monsieur Jean if he has forgotten something, to which he responds, "I believe I have. The problem, I can't remember what!" The line is eerily similar to Neville Longbottom's comments after his gran sends him a remembrall, with the character telling Watson's Hermione, "The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten."

Condon told Metro that he has seen the rumors, but that the reference "wasn't intentional." "It really is just – at the beginning of the movie [The Enchantress] is narrating and she says 'They were forgotten by the world and all the people who love them,'" he said. "That's just an example that pays off later. You always get the sense that [Mr. Potts] has forgotten something, but it's something else he's forgotten. So no."

According to Condon, though, the film does contain quite a few other Easter eggs that eagle eyed fans can look out for upon its March 17 release. "They're all to do with musicals," he said. "So for 'Be Our Guest,' there's Cabaret, there's Chicago, there's Martha Graham, there's Bollywood, Singing In The Rain, Esther Williams, Busby Berkeley, and West Side Story." While Condon hinted that he didn't put in many Disney-related Easter eggs, he did leave this for fans looking for references to past Disney classics: "Unless the animators put something in there I don't know about – that's always scary right?"

Beauty and the Beast is one of many live action remakes that Disney has planned; you can see the full list over at Nicki Swift.