Cruella is a 2021 American crime comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, and a story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, and Gunn Films, it is based on Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, serving as a backstory for its antagonist, Cruella de Vil. It is also the third live-action adaptation in the 101 Dalmatians franchise. The film stars Emma Stone as the title character, with Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Mark Strong in supporting roles. Set in London during the punk rock movement of the 1970s, the film follows Estella Miller, an aspiring fashion designer, as she explores the path that leads her to become a notorious up-and-coming fashion designer known as Cruella de Vil.
In 2013, Disney announced the film's development with Andrew Gunn as a producer. Stone was cast in 2016 and also served as an executive producer on the film alongside Glenn Close, who portrayed Cruella in the previous live-action adaptations, 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000). Principal photography took place in England between August and November 2019 with a $100 million budget.
Cruella premiered in Los Angeles on May 18, 2021, in the first major red-carpet event since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was released in the United States theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and simultaneously available on Disney+ with its Premier Access feature on May 28, grossing over $233 million worldwide and receiving positive reviews from critics. The film earned two nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Makeup and Hairstyling, winning Best Costume Design. It was also nominated in the former category and won in the latter at the 27th Critics' Choice Awards and 75th British Academy Film Awards, while Stone was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 79th Golden Globe Awards. A sequel is in development, with Stone set to reprise her role.
Plot In 1964 England, Estella Miller is a creative child with a talent for fashion, but is ostracized for her black and white hair and rebellious behavior. After Estella is expelled from school, her mother Catherine decides to move them to London, stopping at a party at Hellman Hall, a mansion on the Suffolk coast, to ask the host for money. Sneaking inside, Estella loses her mother's necklace while being chased by the host's Dalmatian dogs, which push Catherine off a cliffside balcony to her death. Orphaned, Estella runs away to London and befriends street urchins Jasper and Horace.
In 1977, Jasper, Horace and Estella are making a living as thieves. Jasper gets Estella a job at the Liberty department store, but she is made a janitor and denied the chance to design clothes. She drunkenly redecorates the window display and impresses Baroness von Hellman, a renowned but authoritarian haute couture designer who offers her a coveted job at her fashion house. Estella notices the Baroness wearing Catherine's necklace, which she claims is a family heirloom once stolen by an employee. Estella asks Jasper and Horace to help retrieve it during the Baroness's Black and White Ball.
To conceal her identity, Estella creates an alter ego named "Cruella" based on her childhood nickname, letting her natural hair show rather than dying it, and wearing one of the Baroness's modified designs. Jasper releases rats into the party, allowing Estella to swipe the necklace. The Baroness summons her Dalmatians with a dog whistle, making Estella realize that the Baroness killed her mother. Seeking revenge, Estella orders Jasper and Horace to kidnap the Dalmatians after one of them swallows the necklace. Over the next few months, she upstages the Baroness at various events, gaining notoriety via her childhood friend, society columnist Anita Darling. The furious Baroness fires her lawyer, Roger Dearly, for failing to stop Cruella, while Estella's increasingly haughty behavior discomforts Jasper and Horace.
Estella designs a beaded dress, secretly disguising moth cocoons as beads, for the Baroness's spring collection. On the night of the show, the Baroness finds that the collection has been destroyed by the moths, and realizes Estella and Cruella are the same person. After staging her own rock music fashion show outside in Regent's Park, Estella is captured by the Baroness's men, along with Jasper and Horace who are framed by the Baroness for Cruella's murder. The Baroness sets their hideout on fire and leaves Estella inside to die. She is saved by John, the Baroness's valet, who has retrieved the necklace from the fire. He reveals that the necklace unlocks a box containing Estella's birth records, proving that the Baroness is her biological mother. Refusing to accept motherhood over her career, she ordered John to murder the baby, and told her husband, Baron von Hellman, that the baby did not survive the birth, causing him to die of a broken heart. John, who could not bring himself to commit murder, instead gave the baby to Catherine, one of the Baroness's maids, who raised Estella in secret.
Estella breaks Jasper and Horace out of prison and reveals the truth, reconciling with them. Planning to expose the Baroness once and for all, they sneak into her charity gala, having arranged for all the guests to dress in black and white, in honor of Cruella. On the balcony, Estella confronts her mother, who feigns an embrace before pushing her over the cliff, unwittingly witnessed by her guests. Estella secretly survives with a hidden parachute. Now legally dead, she adopts her Cruella persona for good, taking the surname "de Vil" after her Panther De Ville car. The Baroness is arrested by the Metropolitan Police. Before "dying", Estella willed her inheritance to Cruella, including the manor which she renames "Hell Hall", moving in with her accomplices.
Cruella sends Dalmatian puppies to both Anita and Roger respectively named Perdita and Pongo. Roger, now working as a musician, is smitten with Pongo, and begins to write a song about Cruella on his piano.
Cast
Emma Stone as Estella Miller / Cruella de Vil, an ambitious grifter and aspiring fashion designer, who goes on to become a notorious and dangerous criminal. Maeve and Nell Chadwick as toddler Estella Billie Gadsdon as 5-year-old Estella Tipper Seifert-Cleveland as 12-year-old Estella Emma Thompson as Baroness von Hellman, the narcissistic, authoritarian, and egotistical head of a prestigious London fashion house and a renowned haute couture designer, who is Estella's new boss and eventual rival. She is the biological mother of Estella. Joel Fry as Jasper, a thief who grew up with Estella after her adoptive mother's death. To play Jasper, Fry did not look back at the character's depiction in the original animated film or the 1996 live-action remake, only copying his physical mannerisms. Ziggy Gardner as young Jasper Paul Walter Hauser as Horace, a thief who grew up with Estella after her adoptive mother's death and Jasper's best friend. Hauser drew inspiration for the role from the performance of Bob Hoskins as Mr. Smee in Hook. Joseph MacDonald as young Horace Emily Beecham as Catherine Miller, Estella's adoptive mother, an impoverished laundrywoman and former maid at Hellman Hall. Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita Darling, Estella's friend when Estella was a kid, who works as a gossip columnist. Anita is later gifted a female Dalmatian puppy named Perdita by Cruella. Florisa Kamara as young Anita Mark Strong as John, the Baroness's valet and loyal confidante who aids her in her schemes.
John McCrea portrays Artie, a member of Cruella's entourage and owner of a vintage fashion shop. He was the first original character in a live-action Disney film to be openly gay and the character is inspired by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and Marc Bolan.
Additionally, Kayvan Novak portrays Roger Dearly, a lawyer working for the Baroness, who becomes a songwriter after he is fired, and is subsequently gifted a male Dalmatian puppy named Pongo by Cruella; Jamie Demetriou portrays Gerald, a clerk at Liberty who is Estella's initial boss; Andrew Leung portrays Jeffrey, the Baroness's assistant; Leo Bill portrays the headmaster at Estella's school; Paul Bazely portrays the police commissioner Weston; Ed Birch portrays the Baroness's head of security; Paul Chowdhry portrays a Kebab Shop Owner, while Abraham Popoola portrays his co-worker George; and Tom Turner appears as the Baron von Hellman, the Baroness's late husband and Cruella's biological father.
Production
Development and casting
A live-action Cruella de Vil film, based upon the character in Disney's 101 Dalmatians franchise, was announced in 2013. Andrew Gunn was hired to produce the film, with Glenn Close (who previously played the character in the 1996 live-action adaptation 101 Dalmatians and its sequel 102 Dalmatians) serving as executive producer and Kelly Marcel revising the script originally written by Aline Brosh McKenna. In January 2016, Emma Stone was cast in the titular role of Cruella de Vil. Costume designer Jenny Beavan later stated that her role on the film was to help Stone appear as a younger 1970s portrayal of Close's 1990s role in 101 Dalmatians, possibly confirming the shared continuity between the films, though the characters of Roger and Anita appear as the same age as Cruella and portrayed as different races with different occupations in this film. However, Stone was not allowed to portray Cruella smoking as she had previously been since Disney had banned characters being shown smoking in its films since 2007.
In August 2016, Jez Butterworth was hired to rewrite the previous draft of the screenplay. In November 2016, it was reported that Disney had hired Alex Timbers to direct the live-action adaptation, with joining the film as a side producer. However, in December 2018, it was revealed that Timbers had left the film due to scheduling conflicts and Craig Gillespie would instead direct the film. In May 2019, Emma Thompson joined the cast as the Baroness, described as "an antagonist to Cruella who's thought to be pivotal in her transformation to the villain we know today". Nicole Kidman was considered to be the top choice, and Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore and Demi Moore were also in consideration for the role, while Dev Patel was considered for the role of Roger Dearly. The same month, Tony McNamara and Dana Fox were hired to write the recent version of the screenplay. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser were added in the following months as Jasper and Horace.
Filming In August 2019, during the D23 Expo, it was revealed that principal photography for Cruella had already begun. In September 2019, Mark Strong, Emily Beecham and Kirby Howell-Baptiste were added to the cast. Filming wrapped in November 2019.
Music and soundtrack
Nicholas Britell composed the film's score. The score album was released on May 21, 2021, by Walt Disney Records.
A separate soundtrack album for the film was released on the same day. Both albums feature "Call Me Cruella", an original song performed by Florence and the Machine, which appears in the end credits of the film.
Release
Theatrical and streaming