Emma Stone gives off a girl-next-door vibe thanks to her bubbly and friendly personality. But people seem to forget that the 27-year-old is also a talented actress, which is why she can play against the type. As such, it's not a huge surprise that Disney is courting her to play famous "101 Dalmatians" villainess Cruella de Vil in an upcoming live-action origin story entitled "Cruella." The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says that the actress is already in negotiations with the Mouse House.
Cruella de Vil made her debut appearance in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel, "The Hundred and One Dalmatians." She next popped up in the animated Disney classic of 1961 before receiving a fantastic live-action adaptation courtesy of Glen Close in 1996's "101 Dalmatians" and its 2000 sequel "102 Dalmatians."
While dogs may be man's best friend, Cruella is quite possibly their greatest enemy. The fashion-obsessed de Vil has hatched evil plan after evil plan to steal a group of Dalmatian puppies and use their fur for coats. Yeah, she's a puppy killer, arguably the Internet Age's worst crime when we all have easy access to adorable gifs like this:
There have been rumblings within Disney of a "Cruella" origin story for a few years, but the $758 million worldwide box office total of 2014's "Maleficent" - Angelina Jolie's take on the "Sleeping Beauty" big bad - rocketed the project to the top of the To-Do list. Kelly Marcel ("Fifty Shades of Grey," "Saving Mr. Banks") is writing the script. No director has signed on as of yet, though the studio is reportedly aiming to begin filming this year. Signing Stone would be the first big domino to fall in that process.
Stone has the musical comedy "La La Land" coming up with Ryan Gosling, which will hopefully inspire some confidence to give Cruella a theme song to play with. Regardless, this could be Disney's next big live-action hit.
