A new clip from the highly anticipated Disney film, Cruella, shows the titular character’s transformation into full villainy. Cruella, which tells the origin story of the famous villain, Cruella de Vil, stars Emma Stone as Cruella, as well as Emma Thompson, Mark Strong, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Joel Fry. The film is scheduled to premiere on May 28, both in theaters and as a Premiere Access release on Disney+.
Cruella seeks to delve deeper into the life of Cruella de Vil, a Disney villain popularized by both Disney’s 1961 animated classic, 101 Dalmatians, and the 1996 live action film adaptation of the same name. Glenn Close, who played Cruella in the 1996 film and its sequel, 102 Dalmatians, passes the baton to Emma Stone, both actresses serving as executive producers on this upcoming film. Cruella follows Estella de Vil, an aspiring fashion designer who then becomes Cruella, the criminal obsessed with Dalmatian furs that we have come to know. Thompson portrays Baroness von Hellman, the head of a famed fashion house and Estella’s boss.
In a new promotional clip released by Walt Disney Studios for Cruella, Emma Stone, as the titular character, is seen making quite the transformational debut as her villainous persona. The clip finds Estella making a dramatic entrance to a masquerade ball held by Baroness von Hellman, her identity veiled by a white cloak and a black mask. When Estella lights her cloak on fire, she is instantly revealed as Cruella, her cloak transformed into a dazzling red dress. This, however, does not seem to please the baroness who then calls to have her thrown out, signaling at the rivalry between the two. Check out the clip below:
This clip is actually a small part of a previously released trailer. While the details of the characters are not entirely known, the trailer made it clear that Thompson and Stone portray adversaries. In the trailer, Baroness von Hellman is shown to be an incredibly callous and ambitious woman who emotionally, and sometimes physically, abuses her underlings, one of which happens to be Estella. It is no wonder that this environment leads the down-on-her-luck, yet still hopeful, Estella to become Cruella.
The video sparks intrigue towards a film that will have, essentially, two villains (or, in Cruella’s view, a villain and an antihero). This is potentially a good thing, considering what level the film seeks to humanize both Cruella and the Baroness, a worry that has been discussed among fans. Positing Cruella as a film with two villains allows fans to not worry about the morals so much as to revel in the theatrics, of which—if this clip is any indication—there will be plenty.
