Interview Emma Stone and Emma Thompson (Cruella)

To mark the release of ‘Cruella’ on Disney+ (premium access) and (as it looks now) in theaters on June 9, Disney hosted a global press conference via Zoom with the talents in front of and behind the camera. If you were very lucky, your question (which you could post in the chat function) was presented to the cast and crew. Our questions didn’t make it, but we did get a lot of information about the challenges and the special moments during the filming of ‘Cruella’. Speaking are the two Emmas, creatively named differently by the moderator of the interview (Stoner, Thompson Twins, T-Rex…).

Dark for a Disney movie

Emma Stone says she was quite surprised to see how dark Disney made this live-action film turn out. “It’s definitely dark for a Disney movie. It is true that it is not a 16-year-old film, but it is certainly the darkest Disney film in a long time.”

Dresses

Emma Thompson plays the Baroness, a character we don’t know yet in the universe of the 101 Dalmatians; a lady who is at once fabulous as a living nightmare. Was it difficult for her to create this character? Emma explains: “If my husband were here, he would say there was no acting involved.” But all kidding aside, it was a great challenge for the actress, who has been playing what her mother calls “good women in dresses” for decades. She’s been asking for the villain role for years. “And now I play a really bad woman in dresses. And what kind of dresses. Oh, the dresses! They actually carried me, rather than the other way around. Every time Em and I got on set, we looked at each other and walked around each other as if we were statues or works of art. And in fact we were. It’s basically everyone created the Baroness, and I just stepped in and said the necessary words,” she laughs.

Toilet

The shoes were also a challenge, says Emma Thompson, because she normally wears nothing higher than a flip-flop. You needed a team to visit the toilet, the costumes were so complicated. Another side effect was that Emma Thompson was a lot taller by wearing the wigs. And then there were three dalmatians at her feet all the time.

Garbage truck

Emma Stone admits that her favorite outfit was the simply ridiculous garbage truck dress. “A close second is the retarded dress I use to cover the car. Epic! Try climbing on a car and make an entire car disappear under it with a sweep of your skirt. It was just fantastic. That’s when you know you’re in a movie.” Emma Thompson adds that the beauty of it is that it was all real, none of it is CGI.”

dogs

What did use CGI were some scenes with the dogs. “They were always on set and we did as many scenes as we could with them, but it was important that they had a good time,” says Emma Stone. The other Emma agrees: “They were so sweet, though, that we had to use CGI for the shots where they… er… aren’t that nice.” However, the sweetest and cutest dog according to Emma Stone was Estella’s dog Buddy (real name Bobby). “I know a lot of dogs, but this has to be the sweetest and cutest dog.”

Equal

Emma Stone says of Estella’s evolution into Cruella: “Estella is sweet, but not fully embodied yet. Cruella is who she is, and that is very tempting. Of course she crosses boundaries that I personally wouldn’t cross, but I still prefer Cruella as a person.” She adds, “I could never play a character that was just bad. There isn’t a bad guy on earth who thinks he’s bad, namely, who think they’re right. So that motivation is important to get into the role well.”

bad mothers

Emma Thompson was also allowed to sink her teeth into portraying a bad character. “The Baroness is tough and she believes in that. According to her, this is the only way. Like Emma (Stone), I’m attracted to the dark side of a female character. After all, it is hardly tolerated that they are bad. After all, we should all be nice and nice. Bad mothers are completely unforgivable. No one has a good word for a bad mother.” One of the things the Baroness says in the film is “If I didn’t have a goal in mind, I might as well have put my genius in the back of the drawer.” Emma Thompson: “There are countless examples of brilliant women who have died without leaving anything behind, without being able to use their talents. So she does have a good point. So just like Em (Stone, ed.) says, I wouldn’t necessarily go down that path, but her dedication to her creativity is admirable. But also difficult.”

Negronis

When asked where she got her inspiration for the meanness of the Baroness, Emma answers that fortunately she doesn’t really know many mean people in her private life. “But you do come across them in show business. I am not naming names, but some of them have come to light in recent times. The Baroness is a mix of all kinds of people. She is also very short-sighted, thinking only about destroying the competition, while also trying to improve herself through the challenge of the competition. But she doesn’t. That actually makes her weak, while she thinks she is strong and appears to be so. She hardly recognizes talent in other persons, so when Estella crosses her path, who is more talented than she is, it is very difficult for her. That’s why it was so hard for me to work with Emma Stone, because she’s more beautiful, younger and more talented than I am…” (laughs). “But I pulled myself together and drinking Negroni’s late into the night helped me cope.”

brainstorm

As a child, Emma Stone was already a fan of the animated film ‘101 Dalmatians’. “What I found especially funny was that the dogs resembled their owners. I also tried to find out in real life if this was the case, and very often it was!” The fact that she would play Cruella was certain from the start. “In fact, even before the idea for the film arose. Disney, of course, has a treasure trove of intellectual property, all those characters, that are sometimes brainstormed about. It was a four-year process. For a long time we had the idea that there would never be a movie about Cruella. Because admit it: although she is a fun and interesting character, what world should we place her in to do justice to the character and what would make a good movie? When Craig and Tony (Gillespie, director; McNamara, screenwriter, ed.) cooperated, things accelerated.”

fist fight

The final question presented to Emma Thompson is who would win in a fistfight: the Baroness or Cruella? “Well, you would think the Baroness, because he is just heavier. So if she lays on top of Cruella, she would eventually choke her. But I don’t think she will get the chance, because Cruella is much faster. She kinda looks like Luke Skywalker in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, one of my favorite movies…”