Emma Stone, star of Disney’s Cruella de Vil is the extremely fashionable villainess of 101 Dalmatians – and this isn’t the first time she’s appeared in live-action, as Glenn Close famously portrayed her in previous adaptations of the original 1961 animated movie.
Cruella is a villain origin story, following in the footsteps of 2014’s Maleficent. It reimagines Cruella as Estella, an aspiring fashion designer and budding criminal who wants to get ahead in 70s punk-rock London. Alongside Stone, the movie stars Emma Thompson as Baroness von Hellman, a renowned fashion designer who takes Estella on as a protégé. The cast also includes Mark Strong, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Joel Fry. Cruella has received fairly positive reviews, with many praising Stone’s take on the iconic role.
Now, Stone has revealed which Disney villain she thinks should be next to get the live-action origin story treatment. In an interview with Variety, Stone picked Ursula, the half-octopus sea witch inspired by drag queen Divine that steals Ariel’s voice. The Oscar-winning actress explained that the non-humanness of Ursula would be interesting for Disney to explore - “She’s an octopus and the world you would get to live in, like Ursula’s parents and what happened there - you’ve never really seen a non-human Disney villain be explored in that way.”
Like Cruella de Vil, Ursula is one of Disney’s most iconic and beloved villains – and based on the critical and commercial success of films like Cruella and Maleficent (as well as Todd Philips’s Joker) it’s clear that audiences are interested in exploring what it takes to make a great villain right now. As The Little Mermaid is a story all about transformation, a movie about Ursula’s transformation into the evil sea witch everyone knows and loves could be very compelling, especially if Ursula started out as a poor unfortunate soul just like the ones she keeps trapped in her cave.
The good news is that Disney villain fans will definitely see Ursula in live-action very soon. Melissa McCarthy has been cast as Ursula in the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, where she will be singing both classic and brand-new songs penned by Alan Menken and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. If The Little Mermaid is a success, there’s a good chance that Ursula might get her own solo movie. Judging by the love for Cruella, it looks like Disney may be putting more focus on their villains in the years to come.
Source: Variety
