Beauty And The Beast: 20 Fiendishly Clever Easter Eggs You Probably Missed

The Wizard Of Oz was clearly a big influence on the character design team, as both Beast and Belle owe something to main characters in the iconic fantasy classic.

When Beast is going through his "make-over" at the hands of his enchanted staff, at one point he briefly has his hair in the style of the Cowardly Lion before angrily shaking it off. Belle's entire outfit, meanwhile, was designed in homage to Dorothy's dress, and the fact that she was Disney's first brown-haired princess might also have something to do with the inspiration.

In both cases, it's telling that their outfits are trimmed with blue. Belle is the only character who wears blue in the entire town, marking her out as different - until she meets Beast, who also wears blue and has blue eyes. That was consciously chosen to define their similarities, and their contrast to the evil-signifying red (which Gaston wears, of course).

As an indicator that Beast has it in himself to be just like Gaston, the villain's eyes were also made blue.