Emma Stone has said that a sequel to the 2021 film Cruella is a “work in progress” in a new interview.
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While on the red carpet at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Thursday (January 5), Stone spoke with Variety about the sequel to Cruella, a prequel to Disney’s animated 1961 film 101 Dalmatians in which Stone played the titular villain, Cruella de Vil. “You tell me,” Stone said, responding to a question about when the sequel will be released. “Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
When asked about whether she has seen a script for the sequel, she replied: “There’s a… it’s a work-in-progress kind of thing going on, yeah, yeah. We’ll see.” She also briefly added that Cruella de Vil was “a blast” to play.
Emma Stone says the #Cruella sequel is a "work in progress" and will begin shooting "hopefully sooner, rather than later." https://t.co/C1Cjm8RD4R pic.twitter.com/Kfl1qk2oxV
— Variety (@Variety) January 5, 2024
Cruella was released in 2021, and was directed by Craig Gillespie based on a screenplay written by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara. At the time, the film garnered a four-star review from NME, with Paul Bradshaw saying: “Too dark and scrappy for very young audiences expecting a cute dog movie, cool kids (and cool parents) will love Cruella for daring to put a bit of bite into the backstory.”
Stone was at the festival promoting the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed surreal comedy Poor Things, in which she stars alongside Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef. On the day before she commented on Cruella for Variety, Stone won an award for her leading role in the film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
In her acceptance speech, she revealed a piece of advice given to her by a studio executive, which she called “total garbage” in retrospect. She also commented on her role in Poor Things, which she also co-produced: “This role was unlike anything I had ever read or anyone that I had ever read about.”
Stone has also recently co-starred with Nathan Fielder in the Showtime comedy-drama The Curse, in which they play a couple who believe they have been cursed while filming a problematic home improvement show, Flipanthropy. Ahead of its release, critics have reacted strongly to The Curse, with one outlet calling it “unrelentingly odd and tough to forget”.