He may be more famous now for Game Of Thrones, but he was once a writer/producer on the original Beauty And The Beast TV show
He reveals that at a recent reunion dinner for key and crew, conversation came around to the reboot, and, “All of us had seen the story, in the [ Hollywood ] Reporter or on the internet, but none of us had been contacted by CBS or CW or any of the folks doing this new version. Just sayin’.”
He then goes on to describe his feeling about the reboot, which can be summed up as “cautious”.
“Well, okay. I wish them luck, although generally speaking, I am not a fan of reboots. I don’t know the writers they have selected, but they seem to have good credentials. I hope they’ve seen the original series. I hope they love it as much as we do. I hope they keep the fantasy, the whole tunnel world, not just the Beast. I hope they keep Father and Mouse and Jamie and Pascal and all the other characters we peopled the tunnels with. And I hope they keep the poetry: the sonnets, the readings from Shelley and Keats and Kipling, the deep love of books and words and literature that was so much a part of Vincent.
“Most of all, I hope they keep it smart.”
You have to wonder about the wisdom of the networks sometimes, though. With Martin such a celebrated figure at the moment thanks to Game Of Thrones , you’d have thought they’d at least have sought him out to get him on their side in some capacity, just for the publicity and goodwill it would lend the project. Okay, he’s probably way to busy to actually write or produce for the show, but even a “creative consultant” role would have been a major coup. Then again, maybe he best staying at a distance…
