‘Cruella’ Casts ‘Killing Eve’ Star Kirby Howell-Baptiste
FromKilling EvetoWhy Women Killand even her recurring role onThe Good Place,Kirby Howell-Baptisteseems to have a lot of death on her resume. But hopefully she won’t be killing anything in her new role inCruella, Disney’s live-action prequel to101 DalmatiansstarringEmma Stoneas the fur-obsessed villain. Howell-Baptiste has signed on to join theCruellacast in an undisclosed role.
Varietybroke the news that Kirby Howell-Baptiste has signed on to star in Disney’s live-actionCruella, an origin story for the101 Dalmatiansvillain Cruella de Vil, played by apunk-rock Emma Stone. Details on Howell-Baptiste’s character have not been revealed.
Howell-Baptiste is best known for her roles inKilling Eveand most recentlyWhy Women Kill, though many may recognize the British actress for her recurring roles in HBO’sBarry, NBC’sThe Good Place(yes, she is Chidi’s ex), and Hulu’s recent revival ofVeronica Mars. She’s been steadily gaining recognition in the U.S. through these roles, thoughCruellawill be her biggest break yet. Howell-Baptiste has proven herself a capable dramatic and comedic actor, the latter of which I get the feeling she’ll be leaning into here. It’s too early to say whether she will be playing an ally or antagonist to Cruella, but taking into consideration her fabulous hair and generally stylish characters, I wouldn’t put it past her to play a fashion school rival to Stone’s aspiring fashionista.
Howell-Baptiste will be joining a cast that includesPaul Walter Hauser(I, Tonya), as one of Cruella’s burglar henchmen Horace;Joel Fry(Yesterday)as his fellow bumbling burglar Jasper; andEmma Thompson. The film will reportedly act as a prequel to101 Dalmatians, following “a young Cruella before she schemed to skin the black-and-white spotted puppies for her fur coat.” But the film’s setting in the 1970s points toCruellabeing a prequel not to the original animated film, which took place in the then-contemporary time of 1961, but to the 1996101 Dalmatianslive-action remake starring Glenn Close, which shifted the timeline to modern day in the mid-1990s.
Craig Gillespie(I, Tonya) is directingCruellabased on a script byTony McNamara, who penned the most recent version of the script after Dana Fox wrote a previous draft. Marc Platt, Kristin Burr, and Andrew Gunn are producing the film, which is currently in production.Cruellawill strut into theaters onMay 28, 2021.
