Since the release of the first trailer, many fans felt like Craig Gillespie’s Cruella film was heavily inspired. By who exactly? None other than The Joker and, more specifically, 2019’s Oscar-winning film directed by Todd Phillips.
In a recent interview with Total Film, the Cruella director opened up about the online comparisons and didn’t discredit fans who want to use Joker as a point of reference in their conversations.
“There are some really deep, emotional things that Cruella’s dealing with that send her to the villainous darker side. So in that sense, it is [similar],” says Gillespie. “But it’s definitely its own thing. Just to sort of reframe Cruella, I thought it was important to show this darker side of her. But there’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of humor in it. There’s a lot of absolutely delightful banter and rhythm to the style of it, which is different from Joker.”
Actress Emma Stone did circle back in the Joker comparisons a bit, saying she finds it different while showing some love to the man behind 2019’s Joker performance: “It’s very different from Joker in many ways,” said Stone. “I would never even remotely compare myself to Joaquin Phoenix. I wish I was more like him.”
Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (“La La Land”) stars in Disney’s “Cruella,” an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. “Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.
Cruella is directed by I, Tonya helmer Craig Gillespie, and is set for release by Disney 0n May 28th. Featuring in the cast alongside Emma Stone are Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility), Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya), Joel Fry (Game of Thrones), Emily Beecham (Into the Badlands), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Killing Eve), and Mark Strong (Shazam!).
