The Mouse House is spinning their fairy-tale classics into live-action box-office gold faster than Rumpelstiltskin. Next May, Walt Disney Studios will release Maleficent, told from the perspective of Sleeping Beauty‘s purple-robed villain with Angelina Jolie in the starring role. A live-action Cinderella movie, directed by Kenneth Branagh, is in production as well and has its sights set for a 2015 release. Disney is also making an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods – a story that features characters like Jack (from his beanstalk fame) and Little Red Riding Hood. Oh, and television affiliate ABC has hit it big with the similarly-themed Once Upon a Time.
The Disney Vault is being opened further to creative live-action variations of other studio classics – even those that have already received the treatment. Yesterday, the studio announced that Cruella de Vil, the cleverly-named fur-hunting antagonist from 101 Dalmatians, will get a solo feature. Glenn Close, the biggest draw of Disney’s 1996 live-action hit (where she played the character as a sinister fashionista), is on tap to executive produce. Cinderella and Annie scribe Aline Brosh McKenna will pen the screenplay, which for now, also has a one-word title: Cruella.
Ms. de Vil first appeared in Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians before becoming one of Disney’s most iconic villains in the 1961 animated film. In fact, she is one of the only Disney villains to get a theme song. Remember: if she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.
There is no word on whether Glenn Close will reprise her role but personally, I would vouch for Helena Bonham Carter, as long as she plays it more Marla Singer than Queen of Hearts.
Who would you choose to play the puppy predator in Cruella? Or would it be fatal to replace Glenn Close? Let us know in the comments below.