ByMerritt Mecham/Sept. 17, 2022 1:32 am EST
Cruella de Vil is one of the most iconic villains in pop culture. Who else has an instantly-recognizable theme song and an even more seminal style?
Since the character's debut appearance in the 1961 animated film "One Hundred and One Dalmations," Cruella has been a character viewers have loved to hate so much that, in many cases, the feeling has turned into outright love. Cruella is single, wealthy, successful, knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to go and get it, making her the perfect "girl boss" for the modern day. Disney capitalized on this love of the villain with the 2021 live-action film "Cruella," which reimagined the character for a new generation, giving her a punk-fashion backstory.
But despite how much fun Cruella is, she's still a villain. In many cases, especially in the 1956 book upon which "Dalmations" was based, she truly lives up to her name. "I think Cruella basically has no redeeming human characteristics," actress Glenn Close told theAssociated Press in 2016. "She's a great character. She's gleeful in her evilness, and there's something very engaging about that." Here's a look into the dark backstory of the lovably unlovable Cruella de Vil.
Her wealth is suspect
The Cruella we know from the Disney film adaptation is enormously wealthy. In fact, Forbes once estimated her net worth to be upwards of $1 billion.
However, according to the "One Hundred and One Dalmations" novel, Cruella's wealth is not what it appears. While her family had historically been wealthy, it is revealed at the end of the book that she is in debt. Her luxurious furs were acquired through her husband, a furrier, but hadn't actually been paid for. Additionally, the many jewels Cruella owned turned out to be fake. In the end, she and her husband fled London to escape their debts, and the white half of her hair turned green from all the stress.
In the 1996 live-action adaptation starring Close, Cruella was presented as a fashion magnate with her own house. While this legitimized some of her money, she was also using her wealth to obtain illegal furs. Emma Stone's Cruella in the 2021 prequel, meanwhile, essentially stole her inheritance from her biological mother after framing her for murder.
She kills cats
Disney
In the original novel, Cruella has a pet: a white Persian cat. The cat is described as "most beautiful," but Cruella isn't interested in the animal's beauty.
"I don't like her much," she says. "I'd drown her if she wasn't so valuable."
After Mrs. Dearly visits Cruella's home, the cat follows her home, and the Dearlys feed it, and the cat appears to want to stay before it's scared off by the dogs. And it's no wonder. Later in the book, the cat reveals that it has given birth to 44 kittens over the years, and that Cruella drowned every single one of them.
However, the cat does get some revenge, as she tells Pongo: "I scare the servants away — any cat can make a house seem haunted. I let the place become overrun with mice. And, oh, how I scratch the furniture!" After the cat helps all of the dogs escape Hell Hall, Pongo and the puppies offer to help the cat get back at Cruella. Together, they destroy all of Cruella's furs.
She has a dark family history
Cruella's ancestral home is named Hell Hall, although that wasn't always the case. In Dodie Smith's novel, it's explained that one of Cruella's ancestors bought "Hill Hall" from a farmer, and then renamed it and painted it black. In the nearby village, rumors soon began to spread: "Once the wall, with its heavy iron gates, was finished, strange rumors began to spread. Villagers crossing the heath at night heard screams and wild laughter." The villagers claim that Cruella's ancestor had a tail, and that he was the devil himself.
This all came to a head when the villagers formed a mob and went with torches to burn down Hell Hall. When they approached, a thunderstorm began, and legend has it that the lightning wasn't coming from the sky, "but from de Vil — blue forked lightning." In case all these supernatural rumors aren't enough, the book also reveals that one of Cruella's ancestors was believed to be a serial killer.
Her apartment's style inspiration was Hell itself
If Cruella's surname were not indication enough, her apartment's styling would be enough to make you associate her with devils and demons. In Dodie Smith's novel, Cruella hosts a dinner party at her city home. The first thing her guests notice is the colors: the dining room has walls of black marble, and the drawing room is all red marble. The second thing the guests notice is the unusual food: "Everything tasted of pepper, even the ice cream — which was black."
When they all finish eating and go to sit in the drawing room, Cruella immediately focuses on the fireplace and tells her husband, "Make it blaze for me." While all of the other guests are panting and sweating, Cruella bemoans that the huge flames never last long enough. It seems Hell Hall would be an appropriate name for Cruella's apartment as well as her country mansion — and while the film adaptations don't portray Cruella's living situation as being quite so cartoonish, they do use the same stark colors for Cruella's dramatic fashion taste.
She's an abusive boss
Beginning with the 1996 adaptation of "101 Dalmatians," which starred Glenn Close as Cruella, she has been a cruel boss. Close's Cruella is the owner of a fashion house, and rather than being connected to Anita from her school days, Anita is Cruella's assistant at the fashion label. Cruella, of course, is a rather terrifying boss, in many ways similar to Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada."
This means that when Cruella asks Anita for the dalmatian puppies, there's an added layer of menace, as Anita's job could be threatened if she refuses. Despite this abuse of power, Anita refuses to sell Cruella the dogs.
In "Cruella," the iconic character is given a more sympathetic underdog backstory, but that doesn't make her much of a better boss. Despite being frustrated by the actions of Baroness von Hellman, Cruella emotionally manipulates her friends Jasper and Horace into doing tasks for her, even when they believe she's going too far.
She's a complicated figure for feminism
"Cruella" portrays the character of Cruella de Vil as a girl-boss anti-hero — a person for whom being "bad and a little bit mad" is ultimately empowering. However, Cruella has not always been this way.
In the novel,Cruella is not the single society woman we've come to know through the films. Instead, she's married. The fact that she makes her husband take her name rather than the other way around is portrayed as another indicator of her evil nature.
In the 1961 animated Disney film, Cruella is single, and her negative traits are very much linked to that fact; The Take notes that Cruella is linked with witches and spiders, and that she has many of the stereotypical qualities associated with "spinsters."
While Cruella's gleeful celebration of her unmarried status and her uninhibited ambition have, over the years, made her into a girl power icon, it's important to remember that she didn't start out that way. Her very name is a reminder that her independence and ambition were once seen as negative traits for a woman.
Cruella and 101 Dalmatians led to issues with Dalmatian adoptions
Following the release of the 1996 live-action adaptation of "101 Dalmatians," the demand for dalmatian puppies soared. However, this had some dark consequences.
In 1997, The New York Times reported that, nationwide, animal shelters reported an increase in the number of surrendered dalmatians, noting that many of the unwanted dogs "were given to children as gifts last Christmas after the release of Disney's remake of the movie '101 Dalmatians.'" PETA reported that the "impulse-buying boom" led not only to surrenders, but also many animals abandoned or neglected.
Unlike the perfectly-behaved dogs that appear in the films, a dalmatian's intelligence makes it a more high-maintenance species. PETA warns that they are "very energetic dogs who require more attention and patience than people may expect." Additionally, the breed can have complicated health issues. These issues can get worse with poor breeding practices, much of which occurred as the demand for dalmatians boomed.
The issue was significant enough that 2021's "Cruella" included a disclaimer encouraging "adopt, don't shop" practices and reminding viewers that every dog deserves a loving home.
One of Cruella's main inspirations has a tragic story
There is perhaps no one more responsible for Cruella de Vil's iconic persona than animator Marc Davis, one of Disney's original "Nine Old Men." Davis did the design and primary animation of Cruella for Disney's 1961 cartoon adaptation of Dodie Smith's novel. While Davis drew inspiration from a number of people, Cruella's look and mannerisms were taken primarily from actress/socialite Tallulah Bankhead.
Bankhead was one of the first modern celebrities, coming from a wealthy Alabama political family (her grandfather and uncle were U.S. Senators, her father Speaker of the House). Described by biographer Lee Israelas "a soft-spoken, blond tubercular – well cultivated, bisexual, with sensuous, meaty lips, a distant, antic charm, a history of mysterious disappearances, and a streak of cruelty," her childhood was marked by neglect and abuse, and she suffered from depression and substance abuse — the least of which being a reported vice of smoking 120 cigarettes a day.
While she had major successes on stage, screen, and radio (she was a particular standout in the 1944 Alfred Hitchcock classic "Lifeboat"), she was reckless with her money, and was notoriously risky when it came to sex (she almost died after she contracted gonorrhea). In the last fifteen years of her life, her depression became even more acute, as did her substance abuse, and she spent most of the years prior to her 1968 death extremely ill.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
The main physical reference model for Cruella's 1961 design went uncredited
In order to aid with their animation, Disney animators would often bring in actors to serve as reference models for the characters. These models would demonstrate movements and be examples for the characters' physicality.
For Cruella de Vil, the reference model ended up playing a large part in the character up on screen, even though they weren't credited in the film. In fact, Cruella's real-life model was someone you may recognize: character actress Mary Wickes. Wickes was known for playing housekeepers and gossips, and appeared in films like "White Christmas" as well as "Sister Act (pictured above)."
Wickes was the perfect reference for Cruella. "She had very distinctive features," biographer Steve Taravella told EW. "She was tall, lanky, and had exaggerated expressions; she was limber and could easily contort her body. She wasn't afraid to do physical comedy." According to EW, the Disney animators would play the recorded voice track for Cruella, and then Wickes would act out Cruella's dramatic movements. This gave Cruella many of the distinctive mannerisms and movements seen in the film.
And while Wickes wasn't formally credited for the film, Taravella says she wouldn't have minded it, even as a relatively famous actress. "Mary wanted nothing more than to work constantly," he told EW. "She loved work ... she was a real old school working actress."
She abuses animals
While "Cruella" has transformed the character of Cruella de Vil into an aspirational punk hero, there are many critics who aren't buying Cruella's new status. After all, Cruella is known first and foremost for one thing: a love of fur so strong that she attempts to kill 101 puppies to feed her obsession.
In the book, Cruella drowns kittens and attempts to get the puppies to fight each other to the death. In the 1996 film, Cruella commands the puppies be killed in increasingly terrible ways: "Chloroform them! Drown them!" she yells. Actress Glenn Close told Yahoo!that she often ad-libbed such lines, "because the worse she was, the more effective she was." There's a reason that PETA has made many complaints about the films and why an academic would call the 1996 version a "provocative piece of pro-fur rhetoric" (via Glamour).
With "Cruella," Disney did its best to distance the Emma Stone iteration of Cruella from animal cruelty. In the film's production notes, Disney stated "in our film, the character Cruella does not in any way harm animals ... Cruella doesn't share the same motivations as her animated counterpart" (via The Guardian). While Cruella de Vil is known as being black and white, her motivations, it seems, have become anything but.
FAQs
What was the controversy with the movie Cruella? ›
The film will star Emma Stone as Cruella herself and appears to be giving the cruel character a story which would explain her psychopathic tendencies and desire to make those Dalmatians into a fur coat. The issue with this however, is, it humanizes animal cruelty.
Did Cruella de Vil have a mental illness? ›The first thing Disney did to make Cruella a redeemable character was to portray her as having dissociative identity disorder (sometimes called multiple personality disorder). The movie tracks the life of Cruella's alter ego, Estella, a rambunctious young prodigy with an eye for style (played by Emma Stone).
What is the backstory of Cruella Deville? ›Background. Cruella is an old school friend of Anita Radcliffe, and a glamor-obsessed heiress who claims that she cannot live without furs. She hires Horace and Jasper Badun, two incompetent crooks, to steal Pongo and Perdita's 15 Dalmatian puppies, and buys 84 more through legitimate means.
Is Cruella an origin story for retelling? ›In Disney's latest live-action reimagining, “Cruella,” a villain's origin story is once again retold. But in the end, it's actually more of a direct prequel to “101 Dalmatians” than you might've expected. In fact, “Cruella” tosses in a “101 Dalmatians” nod before we even get two and a half minutes into the film.
Why did Cruella start killing dogs? ›They've been kidnapped by henchmen Jasper and Horace, who are working for the vain and fashion-obsessed Cruella de Vil, a former classmate of Perdita's human, Anita. Cruella wants the puppies killed and skinned so she can make them into a coat. And that's it.
Is Jasper in love with Cruella? ›It's teased throughout the movie but Cruella and Jasper do not end up romantically linked. There are glimpses that this could be the case but neither act on this. If a sequel is greenlit though, that could well change.
Why is Cruella born with that hair? ›The reason given for Cruella's distinctive hair is poliosis, a disease that causes a decrease or absence of melanin in head hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, or any other hairy area. More often than not, the hair is affected in splotches or directly over the forehead to create a streak of white, akin to Rogue in X-men.
Is Cruella de Vil a psychopath or sociopath? ›From the original Disney animation, we learn that behind her glamour, Cruella de Vil is a murderous, narcissistic psychopath; she is a woman who is perfectly willing to illegally abduct, murder and skin 99 puppies to create her own spotted fur coat.
Why does Cruella have half black and white hair? ›Cruella used the new power to have her mother's dalmatians kill her, and killed them and made their fur into a coat. In a struggle to prevent the Author from writing another note about her, the vial of magic ink spills on her causing her blonde hair to turn into the iconic black and white.
Why did Cruella dye her hair red? ›The hair and make-up are central to the film's plot. Estella was born with Cruella's signature two-toned hair but feels alienated so dyes it red to conform with the status quo. But as her power grows, she returns to her roots.
Why did Cruella de Vil want the puppies in 101 Dalmatians? ›
In 101 Dalmatians, Cruella wanted to purchase Perdita and Pongo's Dalmatian puppies because she was a selfish heiress who viewed the puppies as a fashionable commodity to be exploited rather than as innocent living beings.
How old is Estella in Cruella? ›The film's main character, Estella, is a creative and clever young girl around 12 years old, who plans to one day make a name for herself as a fashion designer.
Is Cruella actually a prequel? ›Like “Maleficent” (so-so), “Cruella” is a prequel of sorts. It purports to show us how the puppy-skinning madwoman of “101 Dalmatians” got that way.
Is Cruella the backstory of 101 Dalmatians? ›There's Dodie Smith's 1956 children's novel that 101 Dalmatians is based on, as well as the real-life women that the creative team behind the 1961 movie were inspired by when developing the character. Here's everything you need to know about the origins of Cruella de Vil.
Is Cruella inspired by 101 Dalmatians? ›Cruella is a 2021 American crime comedy film based on the character Cruella de Vil from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
What is the message of Cruella? ›Cruella is comparing herself to her birth mother, the Baroness. Cruella, although a villain, proves to not be as evil as her mother. Although I don't think we should compare ourselves with others, I think we should compare our current selves with our past selves and hopefully, we can say the same.
Why was Cruella so evil? ›Perhaps it is only fitting that Cruella, too, is motivated by the trauma of witnessing her mother's death. But unlike with Batman, this eventually leads Cruella to choose evil over good — clashing with director Craig Gillespie's attempt to girlbossify the character into a troubling but sympathetic figure.
Does Cruella de Vil hate Dalmatians? ›It is there the movie arbitrarily suggests Cruella de Vil's eventual obsession with Dalmatians is because that breed of dog was used as a literal murder weapon in the death of her mother.
How did the Baroness know Estella was her daughter? ›He shows her a hidden key inside it, and gives her the locked box that it opens. Inside is proof she is the Baroness's daughter. She also discovers that when the Baron heard what had happened he wasted away and died — Estella is actually his rightful heir and now owns the Baroness's huge country house.
Who is the red haired girl in Cruella? ›Emma Stone Has Bright Red Hair While Filming 'Cruella'
What race is Jasper in Cruella? ›
Since then we have heard almost nothing on the project. Now we have learned some interesting details on a classic character. We have learned that Disney is looking for an African American to take on the role of Jasper. Partner of Horace (Who is expected be caucasian) and would go on to be Cruella's henchmen.
Is Cruella black? ›Trivia. The Descendants version of Cruella De Vil is the first version of her to be presented as a black British woman.
What does the ending of Cruella mean? ›At the end of the main narrative, Estella has inherited her father the Baron's fortune, faked her own death and bequeathed the estate to her dear friend Cruella.
Is Cruella's hair naturally possible? ›Sadly, no, none of it was her real hair. Very few actors would die their hair two different colors in that drastic of a fashion. But then again, Estella's red hair wasn't Emma Stone's natural hair either. According to Nadia Stacey, who headed up hair and makeup on “Cruella,” it was all wig work.
Does Estella in Cruella have a mental disorder? ›Young Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is loved unconditionally by her mother, Catherine (Emily Beecham). Estella tries to be calm and kind but struggles with what appears to be a borderline personality disorder and has trouble keeping her raging and mean alter ego, Cruella, under control.
Why does Cruella De Vil love fur? ›Her interest in fashion revolves around furs from animals, particularly fur coats, as she is always seen wearing one. As a result, Cruella often seeks animals to help her with making coats.
Who is Cruella Devil's mom? ›Character information
Baroness Von Hellman is the main antagonist of the 2021 film Cruella, portrayed by Emma Thompson. She is the biological mother of Cruella De Vil and an esteemed fashion designer operating in London.
Cruella de Vil's mother was killed by a vicious pack of Dalmatians.
How many wigs did Emma Stone wear in Cruella? ›The Beauty Behind Emma Stone's 'Cruella': Punk Brows, DIY Lip Liner And Just Two Wigs.
How Does Cruella know Anita? ›Like in the original movie, Anita knows Cruella, formerly known as Estella, from their private primary school days. Anita was one of the few children who was kind to Estella, as everyone else made fun of her hair.
Does Cruella actually skin dogs? ›
Not only does Cruella *not* kill (or skin) any Dalmatians in this film, she ends up with the Baroness's Dalmatians by the end of the film, because she has trained them to follow her commands instead of those of her archnemesis. Therefore no Dalmatians — and no dogs at all — are harmed in the film.
How did Estella's mom get the necklace? ›The necklace was the key to a box that held the truth about Estella's lineage. Estella was Baroness' daughter. She wanted to get rid of her and had ordered John to commit the act. But John saved the baby and gave it to housemaid Catherine (Estella's adoptive mother) to look after her.
Is Cruella A Girl Boss? ›She's a girl boss pretending to fight against the powers that be. She doesn't want to overthrow the Establishment so much as become it. Cruella takes one of the richest narrative archetypes — the madwoman — and whittles her down into a glossy, hollow, capitalism-approved monster fueled by girl-boss politics.
Why did Cruella give Roger and Anita a puppy? ›Cruella ends with one of the Dalmatians that Cruella has inherited/stolen from her biological mother giving birth to a litter of puppies, two of whom Cruella gifts to Roger (Kayvan Novak) and Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), respectively.
How many puppies did Cruella De Vil need? ›Cruella De Vil must bring Puppy Tokens into her Realm, and then capture them until she has at least 99 puppies. To bring puppies into her Realm, she can activate Flashlight and Horace, and play Cruel and Here, Puppies.
Why is it called 101 Dalmatians if there are only 15? ›Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their puppies from Cruella, in the process of rescuing 84 additional ones that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101. Roy M.
Why did Estella call herself Cruella? ›Estella changes her name to Cruella de Vil in order to realize her true identity and give herself a platform to be who she really is. During the final scenes of the movie, the main character, at this point now known as "Cruella," narrates her previous persona's "death" and the "birth" of a new one.
Why is her name Cruella? ›The name Cruella is primarily a female name of English origin that means Evil, Cruel. Name created for Cruella De Vil, the fictional villian of the novel "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" by British author Dodie Smith. The novel was later made into a Disney film titled 101 Dalmatians.
What is Cruella son name? ›Carlos Oscar De Vil is a major character in Descendants. He is the son of Cruella De Vil and Clayton and is portrayed by Cameron Boyce.
Will they make Cruella 2? ›Cruella star Paul Walter Hauser has now provided a promising update on the development of a sequel to the Disney villain prequel. In an interview with Forbes, Hauser, who portrayed the thief and Cruella accomplice Horace in the first outing, has revealed that Cruella 2 will go before cameras in 2023.
Is there a Cruella 2 coming out? ›
'Cruella 2' is officially happening. Here are the latest updates about the Emma Stone sequel. Get ready for more iconic looks from the one and only Cruella. Emma Stone will return for the Cruella sequel after the success of the first prequel movie.
Is there a Cruella two? ›Cruella 2 is an upcoming American film that will be the sequel to the 2021 comedy crime movie Cruella. Nothing is known much about the sequel except that it is set for a possible release in 2023 on Disney+, According to The Hollywood Reporter.
Who is Cruella Deville's husband? ›De Vil is Cruella's husband. He was present in both the novel and the musical.
Is Cruella bipolar? ›The first thing Disney did to make Cruella a redeemable character was to portray her as having dissociative identity disorder (sometimes called multiple personality disorder). The movie tracks the life of Cruella's alter ego, Estella, a rambunctious young prodigy with an eye for style (played by Emma Stone).
What does Cruella de Vil mean in English? ›Cruella De Vil is actually a pun/spin on the words "Cruel Devil."
Is Anita's last name darling? ›In the live-action prequel spin-off, Anita's last name is Darling, which may have made Disney fans smile. "Darling" is an affectionate term Cruella uses to address her old schoolmate in the animated film and a catchphrase she uses at random.
Was Cruella Deville a real person? ›Cruella de Vil, of Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Was Inspired By Tallulah Bankhead.
How historically accurate is Cruella? ›While the film, for the most part, refers to real-world locations, its accuracy in depicting said locations is rather a mixed bag - though not for lack of trying. Filmmaking is a tricky business, at the best of times, and most of the London-based inaccuracies were likely caused by other pressures taking precedence.
Why is Cruella being sued? ›Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney, in which she alleged that the media company breached her contract by releasing the film day and date in theaters and on the Disney+ streaming service.
What is the message of the movie Cruella? ›Cruella teaches us that it is truly not how many times you get knocked down that counts it how many times you stand back up. She teaches us to preserve and to never give up no matter how many times we fall or are told no. Our Dreams are worth the fight.
What crime did Cruella commit? ›
Cruella De Vil: Cruelty to animals, attempted murder, dognapping, reckless driving, conspiracy.
Why is Cruella hair black and white in the movie? ›The reason given for Cruella's distinctive hair is poliosis, a disease that causes a decrease or absence of melanin in head hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, or any other hairy area. More often than not, the hair is affected in splotches or directly over the forehead to create a streak of white, akin to Rogue in X-men.
Is Cruella a drug addict? ›She struggled with addiction, reportedly consuming up to two bottles of bourbon and more than a hundred cigarettes a day. And, she once quipped: “Daddy warned me about men and alcohol, but he never warned me about women and cocaine.”
Why Cruella is the most evil? ›She is blinded by her greed and selfishness, willing to hurt others to get what she wants. You can't help but root for Roger, Anita, Pongo, Perdita, and the other 99 Dalmatians every time she's on screen. Cruella De Vil embodies all of the bad things that could corrupt each and every one of us.
Why did Emma sue Disney? ›Outlook Web Bureau. The lawsuits against prominent movie studios, TV networks and record labels is on the rise, with actor Emma Stone being the latest celebrity who is planning to sue Disney following the release of her film Cruella on the OTT platform Disney+, along with a theatrical release.
What do Dalmatians symbolize in Cruella? ›In contrast, the Baroness's Dalmatians are used as a status symbol. The purebred dogs don't offer friendship, companionship, or love to the Baroness, they're simply there to perform a service and to demonstrate her utmost control over something.
Why do they call her Cruella? ›The name Cruella de Vil is a pun of the words cruel and devil, an allusion that is emphasized by having her English country house nicknamed 'Hell Hall'.
Why did Ursula turn evil? ›When Ursula and Triton's father died, the pair were given equal share of the sea plus two magical items. Triton received the trident while Ursula received the magic Nautilus shell. Though the two were meant to rule the seas together, Ursula's greed and use of dark magic to usurp Triton led to her being banished.
How old is Cruella in Cruella? ›The film's main character, Estella, is a creative and clever young girl around 12 years old, who plans to one day make a name for herself as a fashion designer. After her mother's death and running from orphanages, she is forced to come up with crafty ways to survive.
Is Cruella De Vil a psychopath? ›Cruella De Vil - 101 Dalmatians
Think about that when you talk to your boss on Monday€ Cruella is absolutely a psychopath. She lusts for power, wealth and luxury and does not let the feelings of others, not even high-school friend Anita, get in her way. She has no empathy, no consideration; she wants and she takes.