Christophe Gans, Beauty and the Beast

Last night, you introduced yourself to the audience in Belgrade with your film Beauty and the Beast. You said that fairy tales were a European legacy. How did you come to the idea of filming that famous fairy tale?

- I have the feeling that fairy tales belong to our tradition and to the European nations: the Germans, the French, Italian, Norwegians. This is our tradition and I have the sense for quite a while that the Americans have hijacked it from us. We have seen some good films, but also films I believe have betrayed the original image of fairy tales and that is why I thought it was perhaps the time to reclaim the fairy tales in Europe. I wanted to make a film with European visual effects, by using color and European-style details. People think my film looks like an American version of the French film only because I use technology, but I don't think it is the case.

Did you think about a film of a different genre?

-        Every genre is interesting to me. I would love to make a Western, an epic fantasy, a medieval film, because I love films and I would like to try myself out in every genre. That would be fulfilling a childhood dream, since I spent a lot of time in the movies as a boy, enjoying different films. Now I would like to give something back in return for the joy I felt as a boy watching them.