Disney achieved great success in 2014 by telling the origin story of a sleeping villain ‘Maleficent’ (the Angelina Jolie starring tent pole earned $ 758 million worldwide and led to an underperforming sequel from 2019), and now the Mouse House to have similar luck with ‘Cruella’, a deep dive into the younger days of the iconic ‘Hundred and Dalmatians’ villain Cruella de Vil. In a big win for Disney, Oscar winner Emma Stone plays the bad guy in a story set in the London punk scene from the 1970s.
Disney’s summary for ‘Cruella’ reads: ‘In the 1970s in London, the young fashion designer Estella de Vil became obsessed with the skin of dogs, especially Dalmatians, until she eventually became a ruthless and terrifying legend known as Cruella. ‘
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‘Cruella’ is led by Craig Gillespie in his follow-up project to ‘I, Tonya’, which won Allison Janney the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. ‘Me, Tonya’ also won Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Margot Robbie) and Best Film Editing, in addition to a $ 11 million worldwide production budget of $ 53 million. Like many indie filmmakers, Gillespie turned his indie film success into a Disney tent pole directing concert. The filmmaker last worked with Disney on two projects: “The Finest Hours” and “Million Dollar Arm”, although no title was a huge success at the box office.
Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser (reunion with Gillespie after ‘I, Tonya), Emily Beecham and Mark Strong’ join Stone in the cast ‘Cruella’. Stone’s Oscar-nominated “The Favorite” screenwriter Tony McNamara co-wrote with Dana Fox the “Cruella” screenplay based on a story written by Aline Brosh McKenna, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, “Fifty Shades of Gray” and “Venom” ‘screenwriter. Kelly Marcel, and “Togetherness” star Steve Zissis. Glenn Close, who played Cruella de Vil in Disney’s 1996 live-action remake of ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’, serves as executive producer of ‘Cruella’.
‘Cruella’ is currently opening in theaters on May 28 via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The release date may change due to the pandemic, but for now, the film is still dated for the 2021 summer season. Other Disney titles currently being released for the summer include the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry ‘Black Widow’. Watch the trailer for the movie in the video below.
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