Emma Stone's 'Cruella' To Be Directed By 'Mozart In The Jungle' Co-Creator Alex Timbers

How do you build a whole movie around a woman whose claim to fame is trying to kidnap cute little puppies so she can turn them into coats? We wouldn't know, but apparently Alex Timbers does. The Broadway vet and Mozart in the Jungle co-creator has just been tapped to direct Cruella, a 101 Dalmatians live-action retelling starring Emma Stone as that "inhuman beast." 

Deadline broke the news about the Cruella director. There aren't too many details to go on right now, but the film is billed as a reimagining of 101 Dalmatians that recounts the origin story of cinema's most notorious fur-obsessed villainess. Basically, it's to Dalmatians what Maleficent was to Sleeping Beauty, and the latest stop in Disney's apparent mission to remake every animated feature they've ever released.Cruella boasts a script by Kelly Marcel, whose credits include Fifty Shades of Grey and Disney's own Saving Mr. Banks. Andrew Gunn (Bad Santa 2) and Marc Platt (La La Land) are producing. While no release date has been set, production is expected to get underway in early 2017, so we can probably expect this one to land sooner rather than later.

Timbers is making his feature directing debut with Cruella, although he's got plenty of experience in other areas. He's a seasoned stage director whose credits include the Broadway shows Rocky and Peter and the Starcatchers, both of which earned him Tony nominations, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, for which he also wrote the book. In addition, he's currently working on a stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge! with Baz Luhrmann and Joan of Arc: Into the Fire with the Talking Heads' David Byrne. Interestingly, he was at one point set to direct a stage version of Frozen for Disney, but left that project last summer.

Stone currently stars in Damien Chazelle's La La Land, for which she's already snagged Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. She's been attached to lead Cruella since early this year.