Exclusive: Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser on working with Emma Stone in Cruella
Now playing in theaters from Walt Disney Studios is Cruella, an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil, played by Academy Award winner Emma Stone (“La La Land”).
“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.
Joining Stone and Thompson are Joel Fry as Jasper and Paul Walter Hauser as Horace (the bumbling henchmen from the original 101 Dalmatians) along with Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Emily Beecham. Disney’s “Cruella” is directed by Craig Gillespie (“I Tonya”) from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, story by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis.
Fry's acting credits include Danny Boyle's "Yesterday," “Paddington 2,” “Benjamin” and playing Hizdahr zo Loraq on "Game of Thrones". Hauser appeared in Gillespie’s “I, Tonya” as Tonya Harding’s bumbling bodyguard. Hauser also appeared in Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” and Mindy Kaling’s “Late Night,” and played the lead role in Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell”. He currently stars on YouTube’s streaming hit “Cobra Kai.”
BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Fry and Hauser on working with Emma Stone on the film.