FILM · 2021 · USA
Cruella
31 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (31)
- #001
Glenn Close, who played the first live-action Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000), serves as an executive producer on this film.
- #002
If you rewatch the first scene of Catherine's death, you can hear the dog whistle blended into the film's score.
- #003
Costume designer Jenny Beavan, whom Gillespie hired after seeing her work on Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), created 277 costumes for the main cast, 47 of them for Cruella.
- #004
The film seen on the television while Cruella is in the hotel room is Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). The scene shown features Tallulah Bankhead, the actress on whom Cruella De Vil's animated look was based.
- #005
A popular legend holds that filming was delayed because Emma Stone dislocated her shoulder in June 2019 when she fell off a friend's shoulders at a Spice Girls concert in London. Stone later explained that the night before the Spice Girls concert she ran on a wooden floor in her boots, slipped and broke her shoulder in two places. She attended the concert with her arm in a sling and did not have an X-ray until the next day. Filming was delayed while Stone attended physical therapy.
- #006
The truck horn heard when Cruella honks in prison is the same sound as the car horn in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
- #007
Horace compares dog owners to their dogs, just as Pongo does in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
- #008
When young Estella sneaks into the Baroness's party, John notices her immediately and tries to get rid of her. At first he appears merely to be enforcing the no-children rule, but it later emerges that her distinctive black-and-white hair allows him to recognize her as the Baroness's daughter, and that her life would be in danger if the Baroness identified her.
- #009
Cruella De Vil's classic image includes a large cigar. This element is absent from this version because Disney has banned showing characters smoking in its films since 2007.
- #010
Although Cruella's naturally black-and-white hair seems entirely fictional, it has some basis in reality. Poliosis is a real-life hereditary condition consisting of a lack of pigmentation in a patch of hair on the scalp, which causes that patch to be completely white. It is usually seen in people with Waardenburg syndrome. It is typically only a few streaks or patches, but there are also cases where it splits down the middle and affects the hair on one side of the body.
- #011
The pupae of Tithorea tarricina butterflies are golden in color.
- #012
Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Emma Thompson, Julianne Moore and Demi Moore competed for the role of Baroness von Hellman. Thompson ultimately took the role of the Baroness.
- #013
The arrangement of the armor in the Hall of Hell is identical to that in the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
- #014
Some elements of the film were taken from Johnathan Hallgrey's 2017 novel Sir Thomas Tattletale's Magical Kingdom. * Young Cruella at the private school was inspired by the wayward, rebellious character Gloria Peekaboo, the American heiress to Peekaboo cosmetics. * The Baroness was inspired by the villainous Baroness Galiana von Chatouiller. * The newspaper Anita Darling works for is called Tattletale.
- #015
For his performance as Horace, Paul Walter Hauser drew inspiration from Bob Hoskins's speech and mannerisms as Smee in Hook (1991).
- #016
In this film Cruella has a genuine friendship with Horace and Jasper; unlike previous incarnations, which portrayed her treating them with contempt and calling them bumbling idiots, she calls them family.
- #017
As an example of news coverage, the stains on young Cruella's permanent record resemble Dalmatian spots.
- #018
Despite being an English character, Cruella de Vil has never been played by an English actress. With two exceptions, every actress has been American. Victoria Smurfit, who played De Vil in Once Upon a Time (2011), is Irish, and Michelle Gomez, who voiced De Vil in the 101 Dalmatian Street (2017) series, is Scottish.
- #019
When Cruella reads her birth certificate, it reveals that her birthday is August 7, 1952.
- #020
There are similarities between Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and the Baroness. Both are fashion icons who cause employees to run in terror when they arrive at the office. They toss their coats and bags to their minions. They brutally belittle their subordinates' work. This is because Prada's screenwriter, Aline Brosh McKenna, wrote the first draft of Cruella and received story credit on the finished film.
- #021
After it is revealed that one of the three Dalmatians is pregnant, the post-credits scene shows both Roger (a lawyer) and Anita (a reporter) picking up a Dalmatian puppy from a dump. When Roger and Anita open their letters, the audience learns that these puppies are Pongo and Perdita, the Dalmatians who brought Roger and Anita together in 101 Dalmatians. In every previous iteration of the story, however, Pongo is the one who makes Perdita pregnant. If that were the case here, the first 15 Dalmatian puppies would have mated with one another, since Pongo and Perdita are littermates, which is standard in breeding pedigrees.
- #022
While Cruella reads the offer letter from Liberty of London, the address is 27 Murray Road, Camden, London NW1 3PD. This is not a real address. It also reveals that Estella's surname is Miller and that the offer letter is dated 3 August 1977, giving a timeline for when the film is set.
- #023
After taking on the role of Cruella, Emma Stone personally called Nadia Stacey, the hair stylist of The Favorite (2018), and asked her to create Cruella's wigs for the film.
- #024
Anita's surname in the film is Darling. This means the character's name has been changed for the third time. In the book she was known only as Mrs. Dearly. In One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), the character's name was changed to Anita Radcliffe. In the live-action 101 Dalmatians (1996), her surname was changed to Dearly.
- #025
The dog that plays Wink is the same dog that plays Betty in Will Trent.
- #026
Cruella De Vil is famous for her obsession with fur. However, there is no trace of that obsession anywhere in the film.
- #027
This was the first film to hold a red-carpet premiere following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
- #028
The first look was shared in August 2019 at the D23 Expo as part of Disney's massive film panel. It was a surprise during the presentation, as there had been no indication that it would be one of the featured films.
- #029
It was initially scheduled to be released on 23 December 2020, alongside another Emma Stone film, The Croods: A New Age (2020).
- #030
It first began development in 2013, and three years later Emma Stone was cast in the lead role.
- #031
The first trailer received 71 million online views in its first 24 hours.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work