What Disney villain have you associated yourself with? The muscles of Gaston? The drag styling of Ursula? The daddy predator Scar? The big long snake Kaa? The kinky prowess of Captain Hook? The mustached and gritty sorcerer Jafar? The divine Maleficent?
I honestly think the first Disney villain I was introduced to was Cruella and she has been one of my favorites of all time. I’m not a smoker or a thin thing or a dog-killer, but I just don’t know. She was one of the first ones I read about and the first one I saw in cartoon form. There has always been something about her that just said, “I’m a crazy bad bitch and there’s no real turning back now.” She owned it. Yes, there were times where she hid it when she tried to get her way, but she couldn’t do that too well.
Cruella de Vil. Cruel . Devil . Evil . Sign this gay boy up!
Now, Emma Stone is going to try her hand at portraying one of our favorite evil ladies of Disney. A far stretch from “La La Land” (we hope), Stone will be attempting the second live action portrayal of Miss de Vil, or is it the third? The movie was adapted from a 1956 Dodie Smith novel and in 1961 Disney made their cartoon version. We know Glenn Close attempted a de Vil, some say DeVille in 1996, but honestly, as much of a de Vil fan that I am, I did not attempt to watch it as yes, de Vil is a campy queen, but the adverts for Close’s attempt were just not enough to make me push play. Was it any good?
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.
From the first spoken words of the trailer below, my go to word was “delicious.”
I really hope this turns out to be a great film. So many have labeled this rendition of the Cruella story as Disney’s parallel to DC Entertainment’s Harley Quinn. We shall see. I think Disney is not afraid anymore to do somethin this devilish under the Disney name and not do as they used to do, force it over to their more adult Touchstone Pictures label.
And, of course, two of our/my favorite actresses, both named Emma, best be killing it. We do not see much of Thompson’s role in the trailer besides her standing there and looking amazing, but We do see a great deal of Stone and yes, it will bring us to the show. Here’s hoping it will be a great live take on a great villain’s story!
The movie does not come out until May, so that gives me some time to practice my Cruella DeVille coctail (yes, they spell it like the car). I am not a gin fan, but we shall see what happens! For Cruella, maybe I will give it a go! Plenty of quarantine time left to practice.
The following Cruella Deville recipe is from bartendingpretty.com
Ingredients:
- 1 Egg White
- 3/4 oz. Lemon Juice
- 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup
- 1/2 oz. Heavy Cream
- 1/4 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- 1 oz. Beefeater London Dry Gin
- Scrappy’s Aromatic bitters with Activated Charcoal tablets
Instructions:
Crack an egg and separate the yolk out and drop the egg white in your shaker tin. Next, measure and pour all other ingredients in the tin. Then without ice dry whip all ingredients in a circular whipping motion for 5-10 seconds. Add ice and shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds. The tin should be frosty and very cold to the touch. Next, double strain with a Hawthorne and fine strainer out all the ingredients catching any ice chips into a chilled coupe glass. Lastly, drop on or spray some Scrappy’s Aromatic bitters (mixed with Activated Charcoal tablets making the bitters very black) with a stencil making 9-10 Dalmatian spots! Serve and enjoy!
A little background on my preferred spirits and inclusions:
Beefeater London Dry Gin: First produced in 1820 by distiller James Burroughs and still made with same recipe today in Kennington, London. The Beefeater recipe contains juniper, Angelica root, Angelica seeds, coriander seeds, liquorice, almonds, lemon peels, Seville oranges, and oris root.
Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur: First created in 1821 by Girolamo Luxardo and the original recipe is still used today. Distilled from the pits, leaves, stems and skins of Luxardo family’s own sour Marasca cherries. Then aged in Finnish ash wood for a year resulting in a beautiful dry and slightly sweet liqueur with complex notes of cherries and rosewater. Also, the Luxardo family company was founded in Zara, a port city on the Dalmatian coast! How perfect!
Activated Charcoal Tablets: I use Nature’s Way activated charcoal. An all natural absorbent that helps trap toxins and chemicals from staying in the body! Win win!
Disney’s “Cruella” is directed by Craig Gillespie (“I Tonya”) from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, story by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis. It was produced by Andrew Gunn (“Freaky Friday”), Marc Platt (“Mary Poppins Returns”) and Kristin Burr (“Christopher Robin”), with Emma Stone, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff and Glenn Close serving as executive producers. Two-time Oscar®- winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “A Room with a View”) creates the dazzling and imaginative costumes, which take on a life of their own.
Twitter: @cruella
Instagram: @disneycruella/
Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyCruellaDeVil
Art and video supplied by Disney