Updated March 10, 2017 15:02:18

Hundreds of fans have lined the streets outside Sydney's iconic State Theatre to welcome US actor Josh Gad, one of the stars in the remake of Disney's classic Beauty and the Beast.

Gad, who was there for the film's Australian premiere on Thursday night, plays a bumbling side kick name LeFou — Disney's first openly gay character.

"I'm proud of this film and in general I think that it's a movie of inclusiveness," Gad told ABC News.

"I think now that audiences are getting to see the movie and they're celebrating the movie, and they're celebrating all the moments in the movie."

Gay moment in film 'overblown', Gad says

The US star also addressed the international media storm surrounding film director Bill Condon's comments, that LeFou would be involved in an "exclusively gay moment".

That "moment" proved to be a subtle one near the end of the film, when LeFou dances with another male character, it is very brief and lasts a couple of seconds.

"I'm going to let that speak for itself, because I feel like the whole issue has been so blown out of proportion," Gad said.

"It's great to be able to share [the movie] with the world and let them watch it for themselves."

Photo: The inclusion of gay character LeFou (L) in Beauty and the Beast has been praised as a "welcome and inclusive development". (Supplied: Disney)

Gad is no stranger to Sydney, and previously studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art 14 years ago.

"I loved it, and I had the most incredible time here," Gad said.

"It didn't prepare me to horseback ride which I would encourage all the students of NIDA to start practising now.

"You never know when you're going to need to utilise that skillset."

Queer themes welcomed by LGBTIQ groups

This year has seen greater visibility for LGBTIQ representation in films.

At last month's Oscars, the movie Moonlight won three awards and became the first LGBTIQ film to win Best Picture.

It was critically acclaimed for its story of a young black man's struggle with his sexuality.

Paul Struthers, director of local Sydney film group Queer Screen, says the greater emphasis of these issues in film is extremely important.

"If you see yourself represented on film, TV you feel as though you're part of society, that you matter," he said

"The same has to be said about characters who are LGBTIQ we need to see more."

But Struthers also said films needed to go deeper into covering themes that went beyond just "characters coming to terms with their sexuality".

"It should be characters who are LGBTIQ and then life happens," he said.

"We want to see more of that.

"More people who are LGBTIQ should be employed because then I think the representation of characters who are LGBTIQ will be more authentic."

Topics: film, industry, business-economics-and-finance, romance-films, film-movies, arts-and-entertainment, sydney-2000, nsw

First posted March 10, 2017 13:04:52