The director of Disney's live-action remake of 'Beauty And The Beast' has revealed a subplot of the film will feature the studio's first "exclusively gay moment".

In the April issue of Attitude, director Bill Condon reveals LeFou (Josh Gad) has a small but significant subplot amid all the song and dance numbers.

"LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston (Luke Evans). He's confused about what he wants. It's somebody who's just realizing that he has these feelings," Condon says. "And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that's what has its payoff at the end, which I don't want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."

Gad later tweeted that he is "beyond proud" to be making Disney history, as this is the first time an openly LGBTQ character will appear onscreen in one of the film studio's blockbusters.

Beyond proud of this https://t.co/5wG1KfKqVZ

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 1, 2017

Metaphor

Lyricist Howard Ashman, who died before the 1991 animated feature premiered in theaters, saw it as a "metaphor for AIDS," Condon says.

"He was cursed, and this curse had brought sorrow on all those people who loved him, and maybe there was a chance for a miracle and a way for the curse to be lifted," he adds. "It was a very, very concrete thing that he was doing."