Emma Stone To Play Cruella DeVil?

In the grand tradition of milking things for all that they're worth, you may have realized that Disney is releasing a spate of live-action adaptations of, or inspired by, its classic films -- most notably Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson as Belle and The Jungle Book with its all-star, CGI cast.

The relative successes of Maleficent (giving villains a backstory) and Cinderella (essentially retelling the classic animated story in live-action) are, I suppose, at the heart of this: if those films had flopped, Disney probably wouldn't be so eager to spend money on the 15 or so live-action films currently in talks or production.

One of the most curious of these ("The Most Curious" HAS to go to the Chernabog movie -- and if you're asking "who?" I don't think it's unreasonable. Chernabog is, after all, the villain from Disney's Fantasia -- an unlikely movie and character on which to base a live-action film) is the live-action movie about Cruella DeVil. A memorable antagonist from a beloved Disney film, to be sure. But worthy of her own movie?

I remain skeptical.

After all, part of what makes Disney villains so great (in my opinion; I know some Disney scholars take issue with their portrayal of female power and villainy) is that they're evil. Like, pure, unadulterated, unabashedly EVIL. They're bad, and they know. They're not conflicted over it. (Which is part of the reason I wasn't enamored with Maleficent: of all the Disney villains, she's just so evil and the Angelina Jolie movie tried to explain that away. It did so in a powerful way, to be sure, but still. Can't she just be evil?!)

Cruella DeVil though...there's the potential for a really great, complex psychological backstory there....after all, one of the complaints when she showed up on Once Upon A Time was that she's not a "magical villain." That is, Cruella doesn't wield or use magic: she's just a horrible, puppy-killing, fur-coat-wearing, real person. And slightly (okay, probably more than slightly) maniacal and deranged.

The animated Cruella, c.1961; Glenn Close in the 1996 live-action remake;
and Victoria Smurfit in Once Upon A Time, c. 2014

And now the latest news is that Emma Stone is being pursued by Disney to portray Cruella in the live-action remake:

Which...is interesting. The obvious comment is that Emma Stone is young, which implies that we're definitely getting a backstory, and that we might not never overlap with the events of 101 Dalmatians. (It's Disney, though, so who knows.) And Emma Stone could bring a delightful, sassy spark to the character...as well as the emotional depth that a truly "good" story might call for.

Verdict: If Emma Stone agrees, I've no doubt she'll do a fantastic job. My skepticism lies, I think, with the script/story and the fact that Cruella DeVil is getting her own movie in the first place.