Broadway, film and television superstar Jesse Corti recently held a press conference in Dallas, offering us a portrait of himself and one of his more famous roles in “Beauty and the Beast,” Le Fou.
For almost 100 years the Disney studios have been cinematic royalty with groundbreaking advances in documentaries, live action adventures and of course animation. 25 years ago, “Beauty and the Beast” broke ground as the first animated feature film to receive an Academy Award nomination for best picture. On September 6th, this tale as old as time joined the Walt Disney signature collection, coming out of the Disney vault on Digital HD and the Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) app. It will be available on DVD and Blu-ray September 20th. As usual, there will be a host of all new bonus features and behind the scenes looks at the making of “Beauty and the Beast” along with a rare opportunity to gather around the piano with some of Disney’s greatest composers.
“Beauty and the Beast” was nominated for six Academy Awards and was the first animated feature to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It won two Oscars for Best Song and Best Original Score. But what we remember most are the characters that talented actors like Jesse Corti brought to life.
Jesse Corti is the voice of the compact, comical character, Le Fou, who worships the ground Gaston tromps on and is his number one fan. Le Fou is as loyal as the day is long and is always eager to comply with his pal’s wishes, no matter how dumb or diabolical they may be.
“Le Fou was great fun to do,” says Corti. “He’s a character who’s a bit hyper even though most of his energy is usually spent in the wrong direction. The directors didn’t want his voice to be too squeaky, too sinister or too deep so I came up with something in between. The hardest thing about doing the voice is communicating a lot of emotion and humor in a very short period of time. It was also tough to maintain the voice while I was singing.”
Corti, the son of a minister, was born in Venezuela and got his start as a singer at an early age performing in his father’s choir. At the age of five, he moved to the United States with his family and grew up mostly in New Jersey with a brief two-year stint in California. While studying communications at William Patterson College, he took his first acting classes and discovered that he enjoyed it.
In 1979, while performing as a lead singer in a rock and roll band, Corti went out for his first acting audition and found himself cast as Judas in a national tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Following that, he began working steadily as an actor, diversifying into commercials, soap operas, motion pictures and other prestigious stage appearances. The latter includes four productions for Joe Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival (“Phantasma,” “Rum and Coke,” “Haggadah” and “Lullabye and Goodnight”) and a leading role in the smash Broadway musical “Les Miserables,” in which he played the role of Courfeyrac.
Corti’s film credits include “Revenge” with Kevin Costner, “Nightlife,” “DMZ,” “High Stakes” and a made-for-cable movie called “Florida Straits.”
Television credits inculde a six-month stint on the daytime drama “Search For Tomorrow” and a recurring role as a detective on “Another World.” He was also seen in the CBS movie-of-the-week, “Mother Courage” along with Sophia Loren. Recent television appearances have brought Corti into our homes in episodes of “The Shield,” “Law and Order,” and “Desperate Housewives.” His voiceover credits include work for McDonald’s and a short hop as the Nestle’s Quik rabbit, but has become a Disney superstar with his work in “Beauty and the Beast,” “Frozen” and most recently, “Zootopia.”
During the press conference – which was really much more like spending an hour catching up with an old friend than it was an interview session – Mr. Corti very warmly and openly shared the joys and surprises that working for Disney have brought him.
As mentioned above, Corti has been singing and performing from the age of 5. He would follow a path that lead him to theater opportunities starting at the local and regional levels and eventually landing him on Broadway. He had just begun performance of Les Miz when the Disney studios approached him to audition for “Beauty and the Beast.” Corti was very surprised at how the auditions were conducted, much more like a musical theater audition than any movie audition he had ever been to. “It was BIG! Absolutely huge. There were so many people auditioning at the same time that it almost felt like a cattle call.”
A few of Corti’s favorite memories from “Beauty and the Beast” were the countless hours the animators spent with him really getting to know and understand the physicalities Corti was putting together with the voice work for Le Fou. Since so much of the character’s vocals consist of reactions to Gaston’s abuse of him, an entire day was spent recording nothing but grunts, groans and the Le Fou trademark giggle. As a native Spanish speaker, Corti was delighted when he was able to record “Beauty and the Beast” for the Spanish release.
Corti went on to tell us that the warmth, care and love that Disney pours out to the public in everything the Disney name goes on doesn’t even come close to how loved and cared for they have made him feel. He told us many times during the interview that he has never felt more valued and cared for than when part of the Disney family.
“Beauty and the Beast: 25th Anniversary Edition” will be available on Blu-ray + DVD + DIGITAL HD September 20th
