Emma Stone unleashes her evil laugh in ‘Joker’-esque trailer for ‘Cruella’
Look out for Cruella de Vil.
Walt Disney Studios unleashed the first trailer Wednesday for “Cruella,” the live-action origin story of the wicked, fur-obsessed villain from the animated classic “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” starring Oscar winner Emma Stone.
“From the very beginning, I realized I saw the world differently from everyone else,” Stone’s mysterious antihero says in the trailer. “That didn’t sit well with some people. But I wasn’t for everyone. I guess they were all scared that I would be a psycho.”
Cue the evil laugh.
The eerie, “Joker”-esque preview sees Stone’s titular character, originally named Estella, tear through the streets of 1970s London during the punk-rock craze while donning a number of fashionable looks — including, of course, the signature black-and-white hairstyle that made her infamous.
For as much as “La La Land” is a throwback to the mainstage musicals of yore, star Emma Stone has the trappings of a Freed Unit starlet who shines brightest when playing characters caught in the sometimes bracing glow of the footlights.
“A new day brings new opportunities, and I was ready to make a statement,” she says while crashing an elegant masquerade ball in an eye-catching red gown. “How does the saying go? ‘I am woman. Hear me roar.’”
Also featured in the trailer is Oscar winner and longtime Disney collaborator Emma Thompson, starring opposite Stone as a new character, the Baroness von Hellman. Billed by the studio as “a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute,” Thompson’s Baroness unites with Stone’s Estella over their shared penchant for style — until the latter’s ambitions inevitably take a dark and vengeful turn.
“I’m just getting started, darling,” Stone sneers in a dramatic English accent. “The thing is, I was born brilliant, born bad — and a little bit mad. I’m Cruella.”
Disney’s live-action version of “Mulan,” directed by Niki Caro and streaming on Disney+, is something of a heroic muddle.
Directed by Craig Gillespie, “Cruella” also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Strong, Emily Beecham, Joel Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Jamie Demetriou and John McCrea. The highly anticipated project is executive produced by Stone, Michelle Wright and Jared LeBoff, as well as screen veteran Glenn Close — who portrayed the first live-action Cruella in the 1996 cult favorite “101 Dalmatians.”
On the high heels of other recent live-action Disney adaptations — such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Mulan” and “Maleficent” — the latest and darkest installment in the “Dalmatians” franchise is set to hit theaters May 28.
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