April Fools!

Disney diehards are pushing back against recent news that actress Emma Thompson will portray a tea pot in the studio’s live-action film Beauty and the Beast.

Fans of Walt Disney Studios have always been passionate about the company’s theme parks, movies, and general aura. They appreciate the fact that Disney always pays close attention to every last detail, whether it’s in their parks or in their films. After all, it’s this level of detail and “magic” that’s propelled the studio to its success worldwide.

So it’s no surprise that when fans found out a human is playing a tea pot, the outrage reached a boiling point.

Arnold Mumford, a self-described 46-year-old “Disneyhead,” spends most of his time keeping an eye on the studio’s projects to make sure they live up to the standards set by Walt Disney himself. In an interview with Hypable, he told us Disney brass crossed a line when they cast Thompson as Potts.

“When I first heard Ms. Thompson is playing a tea kettle, I was livid,” he told us by phone as he walked into Disneyland for his 4,389th visit, according to the park’s Annual Passholder website. “The actress has no purple lid, no long nose, no gold handle, and not an ounce of porcelain on her skin.”

He continued, “In Disney’s golden era, the studio would’ve realized they were hiring the wrong person/object for the job. In the case of Mrs. Potts, Disney made a huge mistake.”

Arnold passed along a graphic he created to emphasize his point:

Arnold loves to rally fans when he thinks Disney steps out of line (other recent stories he’s protested include Disney setting Frozen Fever in the spring, and everything to do with Toy Story 4). In the case of Thompson and Potts, he’s launched a petition on the U.S. government’s Change.org to request Obama sign an executive order demanding Potts be recast. At the time of this writing, his petition has amassed 321,204 signatures with a goal of 500,000.

Hypable spoke to several other “Disneyheads” referred to us by Mumford who shared similar feelings. “The 1991 animated film cast a pot for the role of Mrs. Potts. Did Disney bother looking for a pot this time around?” said one fan who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject. “Unless Emma Thompson is about to get a remarkable amount of porcelain surgery done to her face, I see no way she’ll be capable of portraying the pivotal role.”

We found one diehard who was more cautious than Arnold and Anonymous. “Let’s wait to see her on screen before we make any assumptions,” Susan Mathison told us. “I think the first Beauty and the Beast trailer will give us a sense of her abilities to look like a pot. It’s amazing what they can do with special effects these days.”

Asked about protesting other humans portraying objects in Beauty and the Beast like Audra McDonald as the wardrobe, Mumford said they are working on separate petitions, which’ll launch in the coming days.

Time will tell how this backlash affects Disney’s other live-action retellings. In recent months we’ve learned the studio is working on live-action versions of The Jungle Book, Mulan, and Dumbo.

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