Disney plans on going the Maleficent route for its live-action reimagining of 101 Dalmatians. Emma Stone is reportedly in talks to play that film’s iconic villain, Cruella de Vil.
The project is called Cruella and, if it follows the format from the live-action Sleeping Beauty film, it will tell the story of how Cruella became so cruel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey, Saving Mr. Banks) will write the origin story. Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) worked on an early script.
Disney has yet to find a director for the project. Andrew Gunn (Race to Witch Mountain) is the producer.
101 Dalmatians was based on a novel by Dodie Smith and was the first Disney animated film to be set in the then-present day. For anyone who somehow hasn’t seen it, it centers on a pair of dalmatians whose puppies are stolen by De Vil and her two henchmen because she wants to turn them into coats.
Yes, Disney already made a live-action version in 1996, which starred Glenn Close as De Vil. In 2000, Disney made a live-action sequel called 102 Dalmatians.
Stone was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Birdman. Her next film is La La Land with Ryan Gosling. She’s also slated to play Billie Jean King in The Battle of the Sexes. She starred in Irrational Man and Aloha in 2015.