#Cruella Is an Origin Story, Will Premiere on Disney+ in 2021

The upcoming origin story, Cruella, will debut on Disney+ on May 26, 2021. The announcement was made during the recent Disney Investors Day event, which featured updates and revelations aplenty regarding a whole host of Disney projects.While no footage was released for Cruella, the release plan is a much-needed update on the status of the movie. Despite production wrapping at the end of last year, not much has really been revealed about the live-action origin story. Centered around 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil, Cruella will chart the early life of the legendary Disney villain. Set in the punk rock scene of 1970s London, the movie will follow young fashion designer Cruella de Vil, who becomes obsessed with dogs’ skins, especially dalmatians, until she eventually becomes the ruthless and terrifying legend that we all love to hate.
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Cruella is directed by I, Tonya’s Craig Gillespie from a screenplay written by Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Jez Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari), Kelly Marcel (Venom), and Tony McNamara (The Favourite), as well as Dana Fox and Steve Zissis. La La Land actress Emma Stone is stepping into the lead role of notorious criminal Cruella de Vil, with the supporting cast also set to feature Emma Thompson as the Baroness, Paul Walter Hauser as Horace, Joel Fry as Jasper, Emily Beecham as Anita, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Tabitha, and Jamie Demetriou as Gerald.

Shazam! star Mark Strong stars in Cruella as Boris, with the actor recently providing some insight into what audiences can expect from the iconic villain’s backstory. “What the film does, which is brilliant, is try to throw a light on where the Cruella that we think we know has come from,” he said. “It’s a development story, as you see Cruella grow into the Cruella de Vil that we know and love to hate.”

Strong also described what it was like to be part of such a large-scale production, with the cast transported back to the fashion world of the 1970’s, as well as working with director Craig Gillespie and co-stars Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. “Well, I had a great time. Craig Gillespie, who directed it, I was a big fan of,” the actor divulged. “I loved I, Tonya and I loved Lars and the Real Girl, the films that he made before I got to know him. Just liking the stuff he’d made meant that we wanted to work together, and he asked me to play this part in Cruella. It was fantastic being on set. It’s such a massive production. There are huge fashion and ballroom sequences in it, which are just so impressive. I got to be on set during those days and spend most of my time with the two Emmas – Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. It was just great being able to shoot the breeze with those guys during the downtime, and then play with them, telling this fantastical story that I think people are thoroughly going to enjoy, when the cameras were rolling.”

Cruella is just one of several live-action Disney projects due to premiere on Disney+, with Pinocchio, Peter Pan & Wendy and Enchanted 2 all now confirmed to debut on the popular streaming service over the next few years. This comes to us courtesy of Disney Investor Day 2020.

Topics: Cruella, Disney Plus, Streaming