8 Movie Villains Created Out Of Spite

7. Gaston (Beauty And The Beast)

Gaston Beauty And The Beast
Disney

Though he's now synonymous with the Beauty And The Beast story, the character of Gaston didn't actually exist in the original version of the classic fairytale.

He was created by Disney for the studio's animated adaptation in 1991, with the filmmakers feeling that the story needed a proper, out-and-out villain. From here, Gaston was born - a cocky, muscular, bone-headed dude who doesn't really care about anyone but himself. And his pecs.

Unfortunately for screenwriter Linda Woolverton, the type of arrogance displayed by Gaston was something she'd experienced in her personal life, and she drew upon this when creating the character.

"There's tinges of guys I used to date" she told the LA Times, indicating that Gaston was intended as something of a spiteful mockery of her hubristic ex-boyfriends.

It's odd to think that an exaggerated buffoon like Gaston has any sort of basis in reality. Let's just hope that none of Woolverton's exes also tried to lock her father in an insane asylum, eh?

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!