Disney's 'Cruella' Casts Joel Fry As Bumbling Henchman Jasper

Cruella has found one of the two bumbling henchmen employed by Emma Stone's Cruella De Vil. Joel Fry, best known for his roles in Yesterday and Game of Thrones, is joining the Cruella cast as Jasper, the lanky and long-legged crook who kidnaps the titular 101 Dalmatians in the 1961 animated classic.Variety reports that Joel Fry has been cast as Jasper, one of the two "bumbling crooks who along with his cohort Horace, kidnapped the 101 dalmatians for Cruela De Vil." According to Variety, Paul Walter Hauser, who was previously reported to be up for the role of the Dalmatian-owning musician Roger, will be playing Jasper's fellow crook, Horace — a piece of casting that makes much more sense considering Hauser's history of playing hapless villains.

In the original 1961 animated film, Jasper and Horace were tasked by the fur-loving villainess Cruella De Vil with stealing the titular puppies from Roger and Anita to make her latest fur coat. They make quite a comedic duo in the original film, though Jasper has a hint of malice that Fry, who is best known for his role of the scheming Hizdahr zo Loraq in Game of Thrones, could easily portray. Fry has played his fair shared of bumbling oafs too, recently playing the meat-headed backstage manager in Yesterday.

Apart from Stone, the cast of Cruella also includes Emma Thompson in a role currently being kept under wraps. The film will reportedly as a prequel of sorts to 101 Dalmatians, following "a young Cruella before she schemed to skin the black-and-white spotted puppies for her fur coat." But considering she already has her henchmen hired, perhaps Cruella gets started on the devilish path long before she met the spotted puppies.

Few other details are known about this film, which has been in development for nearly six years now, with the most recent version of the script penned by Tony McNamara, who took over from Dana Fox. Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) is directing the movie, having previously worked with Disney on the sports drama Million Dollar Arm and the Coast Guard true story The Finest Hours. Marc Platt, Kristin Burr and Andrew Gunn are producing the film.

Cruella was recently set for a December 23, 2020 release date, so we can probably expect the movie to shoot sometime later this year.