We finally get a glimpse of Cruella De Vil’s origin story.
The Cruella trailer, which Disney released on Wednesday morning, shows a young Cruella (Emma Stone) set to prove her worth in ‘70s London high society. From what’s pieced together in Cruella’s narration, she hasn’t quite made a good impression on others because, you know, the whole being evil thing: “From the very beginning, I realized I saw the world differently than everyone else. That didn’t sit well with some people. But I wasn’t for everyone. I guess they were always scared…that I’d be…a psycho.” This time, the antagonist is Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) and Cruella decides to one-up her by crashing her party in quite an eye-catching outfit. It’s a reveal that’d put any Drag Race queen to shame.
We also get to see Kirby Howell-Baptiste as a photographer named Tabitha, and Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Cruella’s goons. In case Maleficent wasn’t your thing, it looks like Disney took a very different aesthetic direction with this one. It feels a lot like Birds Of Prey (in a very sanitized way), and Stone actually seems to be having lots of fun playing the Disney villain.
Here’s the official plot Disney shared:
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.
Cruella, directed by Craig Gilespie, premieres on May 28. (Whether it’ll get the Disney+ rollout like Mulan and Soul remains to be seen.) For now, check out the trailer below.