Cruella
Disney has very recently released the teaser trailer for its new film dedicated to Cruella, the wicked fur collector we have come to hate in the classic animated film 101 Dalmatians, itself inspired by the 1956 Dodie Smith novel. br>The live action film will not be a replica of the transposition we saw in 2001 in which Glenn Close played the same character. The new Walt Disney Picture production will in fact be an origin story, so it will be placed before the events of the classic and will show us the past of Cruella De Mon, who will be played by Emma Stone.
Below is the official synopsis :
“Cruella, set in 1970s London in the middle of the punk rock revolution, follows the story of a young scammer named Estella, an intelligent and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a couple of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they manage to build a life on the streets of London. One day, Estella's talent for fashion draws the attention of Baroness von Hellman, a frighteningly chic and extraordinarily aristocratic fashion legend, played by two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense & Sensibility). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will lead Estella to embrace the evil side of her and become the raucous, vindictive and fashionable woman we know as Cruella. "
Next to Emma Thompson we will see Mark Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Emily Beecham in the film.
The film is directed by Craig Gillespie, while the screenplay is entrusted to Dana Fox and Tony McNamara.
If you are a Disney lover and miss it for some reason, you can find on Amazon the animated classic The 101 Dalmatians in Special Edition, and its sequel Macchia, A Hero In London. And if you want you can also find the first live action transposition of 2001.
First trailer for Disney’s live-action Cruella movie feels more Joker than 101 Dalmatians
There’s a moment in the first trailer for Disney’s live-action Cruella movie when Emma Stone utters in a terrible faux British accent, “I am woman, hear me roar.” It feels less like something Disney fans will remember from the iconic 101 Dalmatians villain, Cruella de Vil, and more like Jared Leto’s Joker telling Batman, “We live in a society.”
All of which is to say that Disney may have found its own Joker-type character in Stone’s Cruella de Vil... but not necessarily in a good way.
Cruella is set in 1970s London. Stone plays the soon-to-be-villain in an origin story of sorts. She’s an aspiring punk designer — and a grifter — who is trying to get society’s wealthiest people to take notice of her and her designs. Throughout the process, she becomes the infamous Cruella de Vil. (If that story sounds somewhat familiar, it may be because it’s seemingly very similar to Jenny Humphrey’s arc in Gossip Girl’s second season.) The way Stone is playing the villain also has hints of Joker and Harley Quinn, leaning into the “madness” of the character and upping the dramatics of it all.
Now, of course, this is just a trailer, and we’re all aware that movies aren’t always best represented by their trailers. Cruella could turn out to be an amazing film; we’ll just have to wait and see. Disney’s track record with live-action films is relatively hit or miss, though. The Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast soared to more than $1 billion at the box office, but Dumbo lost Disney a sizable chunk of change, and Mulan premiered to lackluster reviews. While Cruella is inspired by 101 Dalmatians, it’s not a direct adaptation. Disney tried the same formula with Maleficent: while the first film performed well, the follow-up, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, underperformed.
Cruella is set to be released on May 28th. Currently, it’s due out in theaters, but as Disney CEO Bob Chapek noted on the company’s recent earnings call, things could change with its theatrical slate depending on where the world is at with the current pandemic. That means there’s a chance Cruella could wind up on Disney Plus either instead of in theaters or alongside a theatrical release. If that does happen, expect more information in the coming weeks.