Emma Stone Hits Back At Claims Cruella Is Similar to The Joker

Emma Stone has responded to claims that her upcoming movie, Cruella, the villain origin story film is similar to The Joker.

The trailer of the Disney movie was released in February and some viewers made the comparison of the movie with Joaquin Phoenix starrer The Joker. Viewers appeared to have an issue with the similarities between the characters. The Joker was also a villain origin story that was released back in 2019.

Emma was not having any of that as she told Total Film that she had never even “remotely” compared herself to the actor. She joked that she wishes she could be more like Joaquin. The actress was speaking along with their director, Craig Gillespie. She talked about the similarities that were drawn and said it is very different from Joker in many ways.

The Spider-Man actress said, “I would never even remotely compare myself to Joaquin Phoenix. I wish I was more like him.” Meanwhile, Craig explained that the two films do share a common theme but they are very distinct from each other. He further said his film has more humor and “delightful banter” which makes it different.

He claimed: “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]. But it’s definitely its own thing.” The director was the person behind ‘I, Tonya’ which was nominated for an Oscar.

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Comparisons Drawn Between Joker and Cruella

Cruella is based on The Hundred and One Dalmatians novel from 1956 and the film is set in the English Capital in the 1970s. The movie narrates the story of a wealthy fashion designer who develops a penchant for Dalmatian skin. She aims to turn the 99 Dalmatian puppies into a fur coat. Cruella will unveil how life began for Estella “Cruella” de Vil, who was hired by Emma Thompson’s character Baroness, the head of a prestigious fashion house.

After the release of the trailer, comparisons were being made between it and Joker. One of the viewers noted that Cruella movie is just Joker whose Reddit is high fashion Twitter. He said, “So Cruella is a secret Joker movie huh… (sic)” Another said: ‘WHY IS THIS GIVING ME A DC TAKE ON CRUELLA? SHES GIVING ME JOKER AND HARLEY QUINN VIBES… Christ, does every villain in film history need to be jokerfied?

While other fans added, ‘Joker just sat there so Cruella could walk the runway’, ‘I had no idea CRUELLA lived in the JOKER cinematic universe!’, and ‘Cruella is going to be Joker for girl bosses (sic).’

Emma had revealed last year that her storyline fits in the timeline during Cruella’s younger years. This is before Glenn Close’s portrayal of the character in the 1996 version of 101 Dalmatians. Emma described the movie being a “trippy” and “wild”. She talked about walking around the set thinking, “This is bananas”. When asked about iconic actress Glenn, she added to Entertainment Tonight: ‘I think she’s obviously the GOAT (greatest of all time), but I also have just loved the cartoon for a really long time.’ 

Cruella is set to be released both in cinemas and on Disney+ with Premier Access on May 28, 2021. 

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