The plot focuses on Kyle Kingson, a wealthy and arrogant high school student. During an environmental event, he is disrespectful to a classmate, who is secretly a witch in disguise. The witch then casts a spell on Kyle to disfigure his body and face, giving him one year to find love or be left with his monstrous appearance forever.
It was expected to be distributed to theaters by CBS Films and Alliance Films on July 30, 2010. However, it was moved to March 18, 2011, in order to avoid Hudgens's film from clashing with the release of Zac Efron's film Charlie St. Cloud, but in January 2011, it was bumped up to March 4, 2011.
The Story
As spring draws closer, Kyle finds himself infatuated with Lindy Taylor (Vanessa Hudgens), a girl from his former school who he had initially been as distant to as he was to Kendra. When Lindy and her father are about to be shot by two brothers on the street, Lindy's father shoots one of the brothers, the surviving one vowing vengeance by taking Lindy's life. Kyle saves Lindy and her father, and arranges for Lindy to move in with him for her own safety. Initially, Lindy is furious about hiding, since she wants to go to Machu Picchu on a field trip - but after she claims she's seen worse when Kyle reveals himself to her (now calling himself "Hunter" around her), they warm up to each other. Kyle writes a letter to Lindy professing his love to her, but he never plans to give it to her, in fear of Lindy not feeling the same way. Will and Zola continue to help Kyle win her over, as the two begin to fall in love. In time, he completely wins her over when they read Frank O'Hara's poem "Having a Coke with You" together out loud. Closer to spring, Kyle goes to visit Kendra, begging for more time. Kendra refuses, but agrees to restore Will's vision and grant citizenship to Zola's three children in Jamaica as well as restoring Kyle to his original self if he succeeds in winning Lindy's heart.
Lindy receives a text message from her father that the criminal who threatened her life is in jail. She and Kyle spend an afternoon at one of Rob's private cottages on a lake. As they are about to kiss, Lindy receives a call notifying her that her father overdosed and is in a hospital. Kyle gives permission for Lindy to leave and see her father. After driving Lindy to see the train station, Kyle gives her his letter, but regrets doing so when she tells him he's a good friend before leaving. Heartbroken, Kyle does not answer Lindy's phone calls, after she reads his letter. Inspired by Will and Zola, Kyle goes to meet Lindy one last time before she leaves for Machu Picchu, and explains he did not answer her calls because he thought she only liked him as a friend. Lindy professes her love, and departs for Machu Picchu. Kyle's normal, handsome self is restored with Kendra's spell broken, but Lindy decides against leaving and tries to find "Hunter" again. She initially ignores Kyle while searching for Hunter, only for Kyle's phone to ring when she calls "Hunter". Realizing Hunter was Kyle, the two share a kiss in the street.
Will wakes up one morning and to his delight can see again. Zola finds three green cards for her children in the mail from the government. Kendra is also seen approaching Rob Kingson's office as a new intern, implying that Kendra will likely do the same thing to Rob as she did to Kyle. In the credits, a series of photographs show that Kyle and Lindy went around the world together - starting with Machu Picchu.
Alternative Ending
Zola and Will find that Zola's children are allowed to live in the states, and that Will can see. About a month later, Kyle is attending his school's graduation ceremony, with a white rose in his pocket. He sees Sloane and Trey, who tell them that he changed because it's what underneath that counts. He also sees Kendra, and thanks her about Will and Zola, and she jokes around, indicating a friendship starting. Lindy meets up with Kyle, who he says is beautiful on the inside, and they kiss, with Kyle actually changing into a better person. Later, Kendra is seen at Rob Kingson's office as an intern, supposedly intending to do the same thing to Rob as she did to Kyle.
Cast
Alex Pettyfer as Kyle Kingson/Hunter (novel: Kyle Kingsbury/Adrian King), the handsome man with an ugly streak who gets transformed when he bullies a girl at his school.
Vanessa Hudgens as Linda "Lindy" Taylor (novel: Owens), the main female character of the story.
Vanessa Hudgens as Linda "Lindy" Taylor (novel: Owens), the main female character of the story.
Mary-Kate Olsen as Kendra Hilferty, the eccentric girl behind Kyle's transformation.
Neil Patrick Harris as Will Fratalli, Kyle's blind tutor
Lisa Gay Hamilton as Zola (novel: Magda), the Kingsons' maid
Peter Krause as Rob Kingson, Kyle's father
Dakota Johnson as Sloane Hagen, Kyle's girlfriend before he leaves due to his deformity; she accompanies him in bullying other students. After Kyle leaves, she begins dating his best friend, Trey. She cheats on Trey with some other guy who is barely mentioned in the book.
Erik Knudsen as Trey Madison
Regina King as Letisha
David Francis as Dr. Davis
Brian Eastman as Dan Granburg
Gio Perez as Victor barrel
Roc LaFortune as Lindy's father
Development
The film is based on Alex Flinn's 2007 supernatural romance novel of the same name, and has been in production since CBS Films bought the rights in December 2007. In February 2009, it was announced by CBS Films President and Chief Executive Officer Amy Baer that Daniel Barnz would direct and write the screenplay. This is one of the first projects to be put into development by CBS Films. Susan Cartsonis produced the film through Storefront Films with Roz Weisberg as co-producer. Initially, the executives hoped for a late 2008 theatrical release; however, the WGA strike delayed that possibility.Baer expressed excitement about the director, saying, "Daniel’s fresh vision makes him one of the most exciting directors of his generation. We are thrilled to partner with him as he brings his unique voice to arguably the most universally resonant myth in storytelling." Barnz anticipated bringing an indie sensibility to Flinn's story. "It's a very commercial idea that I get to tell in a highly artistic fashion," he said. Barnz stated:
There was this sort of hyper-modern version of this story and that it was told from his perspective, which we'd never seen before and thematically, because it's all about beauty and how you look and inner beauty that this was such a great story set in the teenage world and for teenagers, because it has such a great message to it.
In writing the script, Barnz was inspired by the film Say Anything keeping the experiences of teenagers in mind while still basing the screenplay on the novel. He "immediately fell for it, because he saw that there was an amazing opportunity to tell a modern version of this fairytale and he loved the idea of it." Barnz remarked that he was happy to see the story told through the beast's perspective and that it focused more on the romance than the supernatural.
Design
Pettyfer's appearance in the film mostly features him wearing heavy makeup and prosthetics.The prosthetics differ from what is described in the book. Having no fur or fangs, Pettyfer was pleased with the revision:
I was very happy to know I wasn't going to be furry. Question is, were you happy I wasn't furry? Well, I think the audience will be happy. This beast make-up is phenomenal. You're talking to someone who is a fanatic about it [prosthetics and movie make-up] and I've never seen anything that looks remotely similar to this.
The makeup was composed of 67 pieces. There were 7 pieces on his head, as well as 60 tattoos and individual scars applied following application of full-body makeup. The facial prosthetics and tattoos took almost three hours to apply, and to put on the full body makeup took the artists 6 hours to finish.Pettyfer commented on his 'transformation':
It really affected me because as soon as I shaved my head it kind of put me in this weird place, the same place [Kyle is in after his transformation] which really helped me with the role a lot. But at the same time, it kind of is a challenge because you are fighting personally with your own problems off set, but then onset you have a great resource to go to.
Tony Gardner and Alterian, Inc. were responsible for the design and creation of the prosthetics and tattoos. Jamie Kelman handled Pettyfer's makeup application from day to day. Hudgens described the beast's look as "crazy" and that it moved her in "a really weird and peculiar way."Several days before the announced production date, several members of the cast were photographed while headed to a wardrobe studio for fittings.The costumes and the wardrobes used in the film were designed by Suttirat Anne Larlarb.
Filming
Beastly is one of the first feature films to be produced and distributed by CBS Films; it had a budget of $17 million for filming and marketing. Production began on June 13, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and ended in August of the same year. The first clip of the official Beastly trailer was filmed in Chicago, shooting Walter Payton College Prep High School as Buckston Academy High School. Old Montreal and Laval were used as filming locations, as well as the Mount Royal Park in Montreal, which served as Central Park in New York and other outdoor locations.Local Montreal diner Place Milton is also featured as Cafe Santiago. Filming was done in 45 days.
The Quebec government announced on June 12, 2009 that it was increasing its tax credit for foreign producers making films and TV shows there from 25 per cent of labour expenses to 25 per cent of the entire budget of productions shot there. Beastly was one of the film productions who chose to film in Montreal before the announcement of tax-paying increase.
Hudgens left for Montreal to film following the MTV Movie Awards. "I'm laid-back about it," she said.On June 4, 2009, Hudgens and Pettyfer arrived in Montreal.Neil Patrick Harris also went to Montreal to shoot his scenes, and at the same time, for his lead role in an independent film.Hudgens was the first to wrap shooting in order to promote the film Bandslam .Re-shoots were conducted in 2010 due to the push back of the film's release and in order to "emphasize the romantic relationship between the two main characters"Music and soundtrack
The film score was composed by Marcelo Zarvos. Songs by Swedish indie band Marching Band were featured in the film.Also featured was Natalia Kills' second single, "Wonderland". The film's soundtrack was released on March 1, 2011.Marketing
Merchandising
- Accessory Innovations for tote bags, wallets, bag clips, messenger bags, cross-body satchels, key chains and bookmarks (U.S.)
- Bif Bang Pow for figures and bobbleheads (worldwide)
- C&D Visionary for stickers, patches, magnets, buttons, key chains and (non-lenticular) bookmarks (U.S.)
- Fundex for games, co-branded games and puzzles (worldwide)
- Genki Wear for fragrances (U.S.)
- Hallmark for greeting cards and other social expressions (U.S.)
- Harper Collins for an original novel (worldwide)
- Jerry Leigh for fashion T-shirts and hoodies (U.S.)
- LTL Prints for removable wall art (North America)
- Philcos for fashion T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, mood jewelry, blankets, headwear, glassware, buttons and wallets (Canada)
- Rubies for costumes, masks and accessories (U.S./Canada)
- Rock Paper Pencils for lenticular journals, bookmarks, pens and stationery (U.S.)
- Storm City Games for 2 video games (worldwide)
- Scorpio for posters (U.S.)
- Sticker You for stickers, decals, static clings and appliqués (U.S.)
Release
Alliance Films, based in Montreal, released the film in Canada under a deal done by Alliance and CBS Films. Sony Pictures handled all international distribution. It was earlier reported to have a July 30, 2010 release date, but, a few weeks after Charlie St. Cloud moved to a July 30 release, CBS films released a statement saying that they will be moving Beastly because it will cause a "real dilemma" to some of the fans of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens' relationship, via Beastly's Official Facebook account.Eventually, they moved the film's release date to March 18, 2011 to avoid clashing with other films opening during the summer 2010. However, the reasons of moving the date vary. The new March 18 date comes four weeks after Pettyfer debuted in American cinema in I Am Number Four. This introduced Pettyfer to the American audience, and three weeks before Hudgens' other film Sucker Punch. Separately, CBS Films distribution head Steven Friedlandere explains, “There wasn’t much left in the summer that we could move it to. We didn’t want to go in fall, and the holidays are for four-quadrant movies. So we figured if we went to March, we’d have some school breaks happening around that time.” Due to a successful test screening, CBS Films decided to bump Beastly up to March 4, 2011.Critical reception
Box office
Beastly landed the third spot on the weekend gross right behind Rango and The Adjustment Bureau. As of May 25, Beastly's total US gross is $27,865,571. It garnered $10,162,659 more in other regions completing the worldwide gross of $38,028,230, doubling its $17 million budget.
