Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

( Left )Belle (Watson) and the Beast

(Dan Stevens);( below )

Watson with household staff

them how to read. The townsfolk respond

first by marveling at her device—then by

smashing it. She also has little patience

for the arrogant advances of the heartless

village heartthrob Gaston (The Girl on the

Train’s Luke Evans), and when she ends

up in the clutches of the Beast (Downton

Abbey’s Dan Stevens)—a prince living out

an anguished curse as a huge, hairy fiend

in his castle full of living candelabras,

clocks, and tea sets—let’s just say she’s

not thrilled to be his guest.

Watson, now 26, won the role not

because of her dancing, singing, or horse-

back riding (all of which she says needed

work) but because the actress has much

FEBRUARY 24/MARCH 3, 2017 EW.COM 27