'Cruella' Adds Emma Thompson To The '101 Dalmatians' Villain Origin Story Starring Emma Stone

Walt Disney Pictures is still going full steam ahead with their slate of live-action remakes of their animated classics. However, in the case of one of their most famous movies, they're taking a different live-action approach. Since 101 Dalmatians was already remade into a live-action movie back in 1996 (and even spawned a sequel), Disney is giving the fashionista villain Cruella de Vil her own movie starring Emma Stone as a younger version of the deranged woman who wants to make a coat out of puppy fur.

Now the film, simply called Cruella, has landed a new cast member in Emma Thompson. And come to think of it, she would have made a hell of a choice to play Cruella de Vil in the live-action 101 Dalmatians if Glenn Close had ended up turning down the job.

Variety has news on Emma Thompson joining the Cruella movie cast, however, details on her role are currently being kept under wraps. But if we were going to guess, it's not hard to imagine Emma Thompson playing the mother of Cruella de Vil. After all, we could see her perfectly playing an equally vile woman who influences Cruella in her bad attitude and complete disregard for puppy life. And we mean that as a compliment to her acting skills, especially after seeing her have a blast on Saturday Night Live.

Thompson is no stranger to working with Disney, including their live-action remakes. She played Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast, as well as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. Otherwise, she'll be seen later this summer in both Men in Black International and Late Night.

As of now, we don't know how the Cruella movie will be handled when it comes to the storyline. The original animated version of 101 Dalmatians from 1961 took place in the then-present day 1960s, but the live-action remake bumped things up to modern day in the mid-1990s in which it was made. So we're not sure if Cruella will take a cue from either film and flash back from either of those decades to a younger Cruella, or if we'll get the Maleficent treatment and the movie could act as a sort of soft reboot that could lead the way to a new live-action 101 Dalmatians.

Cruella was recently set for a December 23, 2020 release date, so we can probably expect the movie to shoot sometime later this year. 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. He's working from a script written by Dana Fox, recently rewritten by Tony McNamara.