What The Beauty and The Beast Director Said About The Reported Harry Potter Easter Egg

Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast will hit theaters this weekend, and Emma Watson is playing Belle, a beautiful young woman in 19th Century France who ends up living in the enchanted castle of the Beast (Dan Stevens). Of course, this isn't the first time Watson is staying in a strange castle. She grew up playing Hermoine Granger in the Hogwarts castle of the Harry Potter films.

Some Potterheads have already seen an early screening of Beauty and the Beast, and they're claiming that the film has a reference to a Harry Potter film, but was it intentional?

The reference in question comes during the scene when the song Belle is being played. When Belle runs into a townsman named Monsieur Jean, Belle asks him if he's forgotten something, to which Jean replies, to which Jean replies, "I believe I have. The problem, I can't remember what!"

This line is similar to what Neville Longbottom said in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Hermione says that Neville has a Remembrall, explaining, "I've read about those. When the smoke turns red, it means you've forgotten something," and Neville replies: "The only problem is I can't remember what I've forgotten."

However, according to director to Bill Condon, that wasn't intended to be a reference to Harry Potter. The line was meant to show how the spell cast on Beast's castle has affected the townspeople.

Speaking to Metro, Condon says, "I saw those rumors. It 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.'"

"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."

Synopsis:

In Beauty and the Beast, Belle (Emma Watson), a bright, beautiful and independent young woman, is taken prisoner by a beast (Dan Stevens) in its castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle's enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the beast's hideous exterior, allowing her to recognize the kind heart and soul of the true prince that hides on the inside.

Beauty and the Beast is set to release in theaters on March 17, 2017.

Read: Beauty and The Beast's Emma Watson Used To Ruin A Lot of Takes in Harry Potter