'Beauty and the Beast' star Angela Lansbury not a fan of 3D technology

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Angela Lansbury is no fan of the trendy technology. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)

TORONTO - Disney's classic animated fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is set to waltz back through theatres remastered in slick 3D, but the film's star Angela Lansbury is no fan of the trendy technology.

Lansbury, the decorated star of "Murder She Wrote" who portrayed the tender teacup Mrs. Potts in the Oscar-winning 1991 film, has yet to see the movie rendered in 3D but says she hasn't liked the effect in the past.

"Not particularly — it's a bit of a strain for me," the affable 86-year-old Brit said in a telephone interview Monday.

"I don't quite know why we need to do it. I don't understand the desire of the technicians who want to achieve that with a movie that is so perfect in itself before you start tampering around with it.

"(And) it's a bit of an annoyance to have to put on glasses."

The refurbished film hits theatres on Friday, just over 20 years after originally enchanting a wide audience with its sweeping Alan Menken score, ornate animation and timeless story about a captive beauty whose love transforms a hideous creature.

Upon its release, "Beauty and the Beast" won two Oscars and fetched many more nominations — including a nod for best picture — while reeling in more than $375 million around the world.

And, Lansbury says, it's that winsome story — derived from an 18th century French fairy tale — that has given the film such enduring popularity.

"I'm happy to say that make-believe ... is something that children — and young adults too, dammit — want to believe in," Lansbury said.

"They want to believe in romance, they want to believe that Mr. Right is around the corner, and that he could be a knight in shining armour, or that he could look like a monster but turn out to be a lamb, you know?"

The film follows "The Lion King" as the second well-loved Disney classic to have 3D effects grafted on for a limited theatrical re-release. That film's September release was a major success, adding more than $90 million in domestic box-office receipts to its original haul.

But financials aside, the handsome art of "Beast" looks particularly splendid rendered on the big screen, and Lansbury laments that the popularity of its hand-drawn style has waned dramatically in recent years in favour of computer-conjured visuals.

"It's a great mistake, I've gotta say that," Lansbury said. "I'm an elderly woman now, but I still say give me a hand-drawn animated movie any day rather than one of these slick, digitalized numbers, where everything is possible and there's no surprises.

"The beauty of seeing a hand-drawn picture is irreplaceable and they mustn't stop. And I understand there's a sort of movement to go back to it. I hope it's true."

Lansbury's voice role in "Beauty and the Beast" might seem like a footnote on an illustrious career that has yielded a record-tying five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and three Academy Award nominations, but the London-born actress is surprised by how frequently fans mention the performance.

"People hear my speaking voice and they say, 'Gosh, you sound like Mrs. Potts,'" she says, laughing, before gamely adopting a Cockney accent and saying a few words in the familiar voice of her animated counterpart.

Of course, Lansbury is more commonly remembered for the 12 seasons she spent portraying the perceptive mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote," a role that earned the actress 12 Emmy nominations.

She points out that the show still airs "absolutely everywhere," and her fondness for the character hasn't diminished over the years.

"It's enormously popular with men and women ... and kids," she said. "Youngsters really love it ... they just love a good old-fashioned mystery, and watching it unfold, and finding out who-dun-it and all the rest of it.

"They like the character of Jessica Fletcher a lot, because she was a very kind of hip woman in her way, you know? She was no slouch."

If only Lansbury had the opportunity to inhabit similarly spunky roles onscreen more often now.

Though she remains a fixture onstage — she's scheduled to head to Broadway for a lead performance in Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" this April — she's been largely absent from the screen in recent few years, appearing only in 2005's "Nanny McPhee" and last year's Jim Carrey vehicle "Mr. Popper's Penguins," a "little funny role" she said she accepted as a favour to the studio.

She's hoping a long-gestating film project entitled "Adaline" gets off the ground soon — she calls the movie a "long shot" and says it's been held up due to problems casting a lead — but otherwise says she takes on films sparingly because she's rarely offered interesting characters.

"I want to play real women," she said emphatically. "I want to play women who are not senile, who are not about to keel over, who are still able to conduct meaningful, useful lives at their age, and be part of society 100 per cent.

"I don't want to play stereotypes. I want to play intelligent, smart ladies who happen to be 80 or 90 or whatever."

But, she says, such roles are scarce.

"They simply don't write them. I could say that that's a big mistake, certainly, in our society today, because there's an absolutely enormous (number) of (older) people who are able to lead active, productive lives, contribute to society and to make a difference," she said.

"If somebody sends me a script that shows these qualities, I'm going to listen, I'm going to read it and I'm going to hope that somebody might take a chance and cast me in that role."