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25th Anniversary: The Story Behind Belle's Ball Gown and More Secrets You Never Knew

November. That's right: It's been 25 years of dancing candelabras, cracked teacups, and an unlikely love story that mesmerized an entire generation of children and adults. And in honor of the Disney classic—which, by the way, was the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars—nearly the entire cast reunited at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater to share fascinating secrets and their favorite memories. We'll have exclusive interviews with the cast, animators, and producers coming soon—but until then, here are 14 details we're pretty sure you never knew.

the film that was almost made. Supervising animator Glen Keane (who drew the Beast) told the story of how animator Richard Purdum (who was based in London) had a "very European classical approach to telling the story." But it just didn't capture the magic of Disney. "There was a reason that Walt [Disney] took artists and pulled them to California," Keane explained of Disney's legacy. When Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg expressed his displeasure with Purdum's vision, "it didn't take long for [him] to get [

] back on the drawing boards in the states," Keane said.

—directing credit to his name when he was tapped to oversee the film. So what was that one credit? None other than

, an attraction at the Wonders of Life pavilion at EPCOT. "It was a surprise to say the least!" Trousdale remembered. "[Co-director] Kirk [Wise] and I had just gotten off

, which was a 90-day project. We were artists that [Disney] didn't know what to do with, but they didn't want to fire us! When our boss called Kirk and I into his office and said, ‘Can you and Kirk direct

. The only thing I could think of was that we didn’t screw up

The Scene That Was Almost Cut: Key story artist Brenda Chapman loved old Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn films, so she channeled some of their dynamic into Belle and the Beast. One example? The scene where Belle tends to the Beast's wounds after getting attacked by wolves was mirrored after Tracy and Hepburn because of the way they bickered back and forth. Executive producer Howard Ashman loved the sequence, but when Chapman pitched it to Katzenberg, "I totally tanked [the pitch]," she shared. "Howard saved that sequence."

Age Is Just a Number: When it comes to Disney heroines, Belle had something the others didn't: age. "She's probably the oldest of our leading ladies," Disney legend and supervising animator Mark Henn revealed. "Ariel was 16. Belle is older and much more mature. I always thought that was a unique quality to her. She knew [herself] and wasn’t looking for a new world as much."

(Clockwise from Top Left) Producer Don Hahn, director Gary Trousdale, actors Bradley Pierce (Chip), Richard White (Gaston) and Robby Benson (the Beast), animator Mark Henn, actor David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth), animators Andreas Deja and Glen Keane, actress Jo Anne Worley, key story artist Brenda Chapman, story supervisor Roger Allers and actors Paige O'Hara (Belle), Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts) and Jesse Corti (LeFou).

Don't Try This at Home, Folks: It's no secret that the Beast is a combination of various wild animals (a buffalo, a lion, a gorilla, etc.), but for his animator, Glen Keane, the idea came from walking past the Regent's Park Zoo in London. "They had these wolves that would pace back and forth," Keane explained. "I loved their back legs and would start drawing those. I found the zoo incredibly helpful. There was also a taxidermy place not far from the studio, so I asked [producer] Don Hahn if we could buy a buffalo head." Joked Hahn: "My expense report looked really weird that week!" But that wasn't all. Keane wanted to see what it would be like for Belle to stand in front of a gorilla (to mimic what it would be like if it was the Beast), so he shadowed an actual gorilla named Caesar: "I asked the zoo if I could get in the cage with this gorilla, but they said no to that." (Thank goodness someone did.) This particular gorilla actually didn't behave well, so he was put in the basement down below the zoo. "He had these really sad eyes," Keane revealed. "He was in the dark and he came out of the shadows, [but] he didn’t want me there." Sound familiar to fans of the movie? But then, "he grabbed a handful of gorilla poo and threw it at me, so I got out of there really quick."

The Heart of a Beast: Many high-profile names auditioned for the role of the Beast, but the casting directors decided not to tell Keane who they were when listening to their auditions. "I was doing dishes listening to this," Keane explained. After listening to plenty of loud, forceful voices, "there was then this conflicted warm, tender, but deep voice, and I thought, 'That’s it!' I recognized it as the Beast, and I said, 'It’s gotta be this one.'" That's when Keane was told the voice belonged to none other than Robby Benson.

Don't Call It a Cartoon: Robby Benson reminisced about his audition process for the Beast: "I could tell immediately that it wasn’t like anything that I had gone up for, as far as animation. It read like a Broadway show." Whatever you call

its characters—a cartoon. "I never thought of Beast as a cartoon," he said. "That’s a bad word. It’s not a cartoon, thanks to [Glen Keane]. It’s amazing." So what was the key to giving the Beast an endearing quality? "I wanted to play [him] honestly. Instead of [growling], I spoke the lines [in the audition]." Most importantly: "Play it from the heart," advises Benson.

"Tale as Old as Time," the Rock Version?: Angela Lansbury had the audience in stitches recalling the day she got a call from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman to pitch her the role of Mrs. Potts: "I didn’t know them, but they called and said, 'Disney’s going to make a movie about this story, and there’s a role for Mrs. Potts. She’s a teapot.' I’m like, 'I'm glad you clarified that.'" Then they started to sing "Tale as Old as Time," but, according to Lansbury, "They sang it to me kind of rock style! I thought, 'A teapot singing

song?!' I said, 'Send me the music and let me record a more realistic version.'" They did, and the rest is history.

A Tale You Won't Believe: Producer Don Hahn shared a fascinating story of the day that Angela Lansbury was flying to New York to record "Tale As Old As Time" with the New York Philharmonic. Her flight had to make an emergency stop in Las Vegas because there was a bomb scare on the plane, so Hahn wanted to get the legendary actress and her husband a Vegas hotel room for the night so they could relax and start anew the next day. But Lansbury wasn't hearing it. She got on the next flight out to New York that same day and told them to hold the orchestra in New York. Hours later, "elevator doors open [at the Philharmonic]," Hahn recalled, "and [she] came in, the orchestra was still there, and she stepped into the booth to record the song." They did it in one take, and that was the rendition you hear in the movie. Of that special day, Lansbury joked that "it's so odd to sing for the New York Philharmonic. I almost died!"

Gaston, the Soap Opera Star? Yes, it's true: Gaston was somewhat modeled after those handsome soap opera stars. "I had a hard time getting a hold of Gaston visually," admitted supervising animator Andreas Deja. "I understood him from a story point of view, but visually was hard. Jeffrey Katzenberg said 'He’s not handsome enough.' I said, 'But he’s the villain! Do you want a soap opera star?'" Sure enough, Deja ended up sketching soap opera model-types! The reason Katzenberg wanted such a handsome-looking Gaston? "He said, 'Look, the story we’re trying to tell here is don't judge a book by its cover, so Gaston has to have the opposite qualities of the Beast,'" Deja shared. "It was important for Katzenberg that Gaston came off as full of himself and arrogant. I said, 'If he’s handsome, it’s going to be difficult.' Jeffrey said, 'Well, no one said it was going to be easy!'"

Hairy Matters: Once Gaston's physical look was complete, it came time to get down to the nitty gritty. First up: Gaston's chest hair. "It had a peculiar design!" Deja remembered. "It was [originally] combed from the inside out. Everyone had a different opinion of what his chest hair looked like. It became a real issue."

A Rebel Among the Group: Improvising isn't encouraged in animated films (Robin Williams as the Genie in

was an exception), but David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth) took the liberty any chance he could. "I would get ideas and jot things down," he shared. "Occasionally, it worked." What's one of his most famous improvised lines? The moment where Cogsworth says, "Flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep?" "We draw from our real lives," the actor joked.

The Story Behind Belle's Yellow Ball Gown: While we'd like to think as much thought was put into Belle's epic princess moment as it takes celebrities to decide what to wear to the Met Gala, it turns out it wasn't

like that. "We were designing Belle’s ballroom dress one night, and it was me and a bunch of guys eating pizza and drinking, deciding what Belle was going to wear," Hahn revealed.

Ballroom Beauty: The enormity of the ballroom scene was a welcome change of scenery for story supervisor, Roger Ellers. Having such a huge space to work with "was a new freedom for us. That was the first time we had an environment we could linger in."

on Glamour.com. Until then, have you ever wondered why Disney heroines don't have mothers? Click here to find out why.

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