‘The Favourite’ Proves Emma Stone Has the Mean Streak to be Cruella de Vil

Disney unveiled a first look at their upcoming Emma Stone film, Cruella, during their big D23 expo this weekend. The film won’t hit theaters until May 28, 2021, but the single shot of Stone dressed up like a “punk rock” princess version of Cruella de Vil sent shockwaves throughout the internet. More Alexander McQueen than traditional Disney animation, the film looks to be full of high-end fashion looks, to say nothing of the hard-core attitude Stone is exuding. But Stone has shown her capacity for villainy before. In fact, Stone’s delish turn in The Favourite proves she has the perfect mean streak to play the dog-napping, fur-wearing Cruella de Vil.

The Favourite is director Yorgos Lanthimos’s dark look at the life of Queen Anne. The monarch had a tragic life, marked by seventeen pregnancies, all of which ended in miscarriages, stillbirths, or the birth of children who died young in life. Not a single one of her children survived her, and she leaned closely on best friend Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, for emotional support. The Favourite delves into what happened when Sarah and Queen Anne fell out, and when Sarah’s cousin Abigail Masham became Anne’s favorite.

Emma Stone plays Abigail in The Favourite, and when we first meet her, she is a typical Emma Stone character. That is, she is a likable ingenue, newly arrived at court because she’s down on her luck and needs her powerful cousin’s help. Rachel Weisz plays Sarah Churchill, and soon we see that Abigail is carefully studying how Sarah wields influence over the queen. Specifically, how Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) has a lesbian attraction to Sarah. Abigail uses a combination of kindness and pure flattery to woo the queen, thus tilting her affections away from Sarah.

Stone uses her natural charisma to sell the audience — and Queen Anne — on Abigail’s supposed sweetness. It is only when the camera follows her out of the queen’s sight that a crueler streak emerges. We see how she cleverly toys with the affections of handsome soldier Samuel Masham (Joe Alwyn), and strategizes Sarah’s downfall. In the last act of the film, a new Abigail emerges. Emboldened by her position in court, she openly cackles at peers, orders courtiers around, curses through the palace, and even uses one of the Queen’s beloved bunnies as a footrest.

The Favourite offers up a perversion of Stone’s public persona, which has long been sweet, sincere, and comically self-depricating. As Cruella de Vil, it seems she’s leaning in this direction once more. And as in The Favourite, we see Stone lavishly dressed up in black and white couture, dominating the scenery, and using animals to show off her power. The film promises to present the backstory of how the villainess became obsessed with fur – specifically crafting herself a fur coat made from the pelts of, oh, about 101 Dalmatians. If that means that Stone needs to start off likable until she breaks and goes full on bad, then we know from The Favourite that she can do precisely that.

Fans may have to wait a couple years to see Cruella in theaters, but you can stream The Favourite on HBO Now and HBO Go right now.

Where to stream The Favourite