Ewan McGregor is in final negotiations to join the cast of Disney's live-action adaptation of the animated classic Beauty and the Beast. THR reports that McGregor will play Lumiere, the vivacious and charming maître d' who is transformed into a candelabra when the prince's castle is cursed.

McGregor is another fine addition to the already excellent cast of Emma Watson as Belle, Kevin Kline as Belle’s father, Maurice, Dan Stevens as Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as Le Fou, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts. Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters) is directing from a script written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and rewritten by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower).

Lumiere performs the show-stopping number "Be Our Guest", and with Alan Menkin and Tim Rice composing new songs for the film, McGregor's talents should be put to good use. McGregor is a fantastic choice for the "Casanova of candelabras". He's a charming presence, a gifted actor, and has an utterly mellifluous voice, as he demonstrated in the 2001 musical Moulin Rouge! and again in Peyton Reed's seriously underrated romantic comedy Down with Love. Check out a scene from the latter below, and enjoy McGregor's dulcet tones.

Clip via Youtube.

With McGregor set as Lumiere,  Disney has locked in all the major pieces of the Beauty and the Beast cast and should be rolling into production shortly. When Steve spoke with Josh Gad earlier this month, the actor confirmed that he'll be filming soon. Beauty and the Beast is one of many, many live-action remakes on Disney's slate, and is set to arrive in theaters March 17, 2017.

UPDATE: Stanley Tucci has signed a deal to join Beauty and the Beast as Cadenza the grand piano, a new character invented for the film. Per Variety, Cadenza is described as a "neurotic maestro". As I mentioned earlier, Disney has put together an impeccable cast for the film. Tucci makes everything better, so with his addition they are now in the running for best cast ever.