When the Cruella trailer dropped in February, we were suddenly aware of the possibility that there could be a striking resemblance between a Disney villain origin story and a Batman villain origin story. But Emma Stone, who plays the stylish, dog-hating protagonist, says her movie and Joker aren’t all that alike.
“It’s very different from Joker in many ways,” the actor said in an interview with Total Film, though she went on to complement that film’s lead actor, Joaquin Phoenix, rather than delve further into why the films are dissimilar.
Cruella director Craig Gillespie did elaborate a little, however: “There are some really deep, emotional things that Cruella’s dealing with that send her to the villainous darker side. So in that sense, it is [similar],” he said. But he also added that “there’s a lot of absolutely delightful banter and rhythm to the style of it,” which is definitely not the tone taken by the grim, violent Joker.
We’ve seen evidence of Cruella’s sense of humour in its marketing — as well as the excellent, punk-influenced outfits the character will be wearing while exploring how a edgy fashionista’s path can lead her from a high-fashion runway to chasing down Dalmation puppies for the darkest possible purpose. We’ll get the full picture of this jokier Joker, except not Joker, when the movie comes out May 27, both in theatres and on Disney+ with the added cost of Premier Access.
[referenced id=”1672857″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2021/02/disneys-cruella-trailer-is-pretty-much-a-batman-villain-origin-story/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/18/flw9etg9qrt3uj19oub6-300×169.gif” title=”Disney’s Cruella Trailer Is Pretty Much a Batman Villain Origin Story” excerpt=”It’s tough to say just how much public interest there was in a movie exploring the early days of 101 Dalmatians’s would-be dog-murdering fashion icon Cruella de Vil. But it’s easy enough to see how, with two live-action Maleficent movies under its belt, Disney figured it could keep the villain…”]