Disney’s Cruella Adds Into the Badlands’ Emily Beecham

Deadline has brought word that the upcoming Disney live-action prequel to its acclaimed 101 Dalmatians, Cruella, has expanded its cast further with the addition of Into the Badlands vet Emily Beecham, who just wowed the crowd at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with her performance in the upcoming drama Little Joe, for which she won the festival’s Best Actress award.

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The Cruella De Vil movie will explore the villainess who originated in Dodie Smith’s 1956 book, “The Hundred and One Dalmatians.” The role was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson in Disney’s 1961 animated adaptation and played by Glenn Close in the 1996 live-action take (as well as in that film’s 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians).

Pick up the original animated Disney classic here.

The film will be starring Academy Award-winning actresses Emma Thompson (Howards End), and Emma Stone (La La Land), who is set to portray the titular fur-obsessed antagonist. The upcoming prequel is expected to be set in the 1970s, with Stone calling her take on the character “punk rock.”

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Joining Stone and Thompson are British actor Joel Fry (Game of Thrones, Yesterday) as Jasper and Paul Walter Hauser as Horace (the bumbling henchmen from the original 101 Dalmatians). The long-in-development film will be directed by I, Tonya filmmaker Craig Gillespie (The Finest Hours, Million Dollar Arm).

(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)