The villains in Disney animated classics have almost always been paired with some sort of dim-witted buffoon for a sidekick. Whether they are there to help with something nefarious or boosting the lead villain’s ego, you can count on them to be the source of comic relief. So not to anyone’s surprise, when Josh Gad earned a part in Bill Condon‘s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, he took the part of Lefou, Gaston’s (to be played by Luke Evans) sidekick. Hit the jump for more.

THR says that the Frozen star is in final talks to sign on for the role of Lefou. He’ll play alongside Evans, and opposite Emma Watson, who will play Belle, and Dan Stevens, who will play The Beast.

Previous fairy tale reinventions from Disney has proven to be a box office smash, but panned by critics. However, like the newly released Cinderella, the live-action Beauty and the Beast will have close similarities to its animation counterpart. There may be even a few songs from the original, as hinted by Watson.

Both the live-action and animated film will be based on the French fairy tale, which follows “young woman who takes her father’s place as a prisoner in a monstrous being’s castle, only to fall in love with the creature who turns out to be a prince.”

Gad can currently be heard on the new Frozen Fever short, which appears right before all theatrical showings of Cinderella. He recently starred in The Wedding Ringer earlier this year, and will appear alongside Adam Sandler in Pixels. He will also return to reprise his voice role as Olaf in the new Frozen sequel, which was announced this week.

Below is his tweet confirming the news of the role.

pic.twitter.com/F8rhfkNdMg

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 13, 2015

[Source: THR]