Exclusive: Kirby Howell-Baptiste on playing Anita Darling in Disney’s 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.
Best known for supporting turns in The Good Place, Barry and Killing Eve, Kirby Howell-Baptiste is playing the role of Anita Darling. She’s a reporter who writes about Cruella’s uprise in the fashion world. Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Howell-Baptiste on her portrayal of a character that’s been part of the Dalmatian world.
