Vanessa Hudgens latest film “Beastly” tells the story of a narcissistic popular teenage boy who is turned into a hideous beast by a girl he tries to humiliate.

Hudgens’ character, Lindy plays an unassuming classmate who befriends the ‘beast’.  A Disney fan from an early age, the star revealed that playing a ‘bella’ like character is something she was always wanted to do.

"I'm a big fan of the original Disney animated movie," she says. "I grew up on those movies. I wanted to be Belle,"  she told the Detroit news.

Unlike the traditional beauty and the beast,  the protagonist played by Alex Pettyfer is bald and his body is scarred and tattooed.  The make-up took anywhere from three to five hours a day.

"I sat down with director Daniel Barnz, and the first thing he said to me was 'the beast will have no fur,'" the Californian actor says. "No fur? I thought that was really interesting because that's how it's always looked. Taking (the fur) away kind of gave it a whole new reality and realism."

The “High School Musical” star describes her character as someone who likes to live under the radar. She slowly falls for the beasts character and sees past his ugly exterior to the beauty within.

"That's why the story is so beautiful, because through somebody else and through the beauty she sees in him, it helps her find herself," she says.