'Beauty and the Beast' director moved by Emma Watson's obsession with original film

With past films including "Dreamgirls" and the final two "Twilight" films, "Beauty and the Beast" director Bill Condon took on the momentous task of adapting the animated classic into live-action.

"We built a village. We built a forest. We built a castle," Condon said. "I thought that was important because you knew there was going to have to be CG candlesticks and things like that to make it as much real as possible because I think people can feel the difference."

The director shared the difficult process in the creation of the computer-generated characters.

"Mrs. Potts turned out to take the longest to kind of come together," Cordon said. "When it did, and it was because we just put a little hint of Emma Thompson in there, and that's when it really came to life."

When it came to finding an actress for Belle, the casting of Emma Watson proved easy for Condon.

"I saw exactly one (Belle)," the director said.

"To hear her own story and realize that she'd worn out a VHS tape of "Beauty and the Beast" and that it actually helped her become the kind of strong female role model that she is, the idea that then she would turn around and then give that back to another generation of girls, there's something very moving about that," Condon continued.

"Beauty and the Beast" is now in theaters.