{"id":24420,"date":"2021-05-26T04:19:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T04:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=194089"},"modified":"2021-05-28T15:04:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:04:32","slug":"cruella-craig-gillespie","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/cruella-craig-gillespie\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruella: In Conversation With Film Director Craig Gillespie"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_194080\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194080\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194080 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/CRU-27097_R-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Cruella\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194080\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Australian director Craig Gillespie laughs as he remembers the moment he captured Emma Stone in shrieking hysteria in a scene from his new movie <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/cruella-costumes\/\"><em>Cruella<\/em><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting, Emma has so many shades that she has to play in this film and she comes into it in a very dark place \u2013 and starts out in a very aggressive place,\u201d says Gillespie who also directed the Academy Award-nominated film <em>I, Tonya<\/em>. \u201cThere is this scene halfway through the film where Cruella steps out and meets her fellow cohorts Horace and Jasper. The way that she commands the room in that scene is just delicious. It was the first time we saw full Cruella. It\u2019s such a great introduction to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Slated for release on May 28 2021, Disney\u2019s all-new live-action feature film, <em>Cruella,<\/em> is set amid the punk rock revolution in 1970s London and tells the backstory of how a young grifter named Estella became the iconic Cruella De Vil. Estella (Stone) is determined to make a name for herself in fashion and while her flair catches the eye of terrifyingly haute fashion legend, the Baroness von Hellman (played by Emma Thompson), her rebellious streak takes over her personal life. As Gillespie describes in the scene above, Estella befriends a pair of young thieves named Horace and Jasper who, with her, cue trouble for the streets of London. Like Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s 2019 Joker, we watch Estella\u2019s slow descent into wickedness to ultimately become the dog-hating villain we know.<\/p>\n<p>In a world exclusive, Gillespie jumps on the phone from Los Angeles to fill you in on what to expect from <em>Cruella.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Disney\u2019s Cruella | Official Trailer 2\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jpZrVxvG3mk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: <em>Cruella <\/em>explores the backstory of Cruella De Vil and how she came to be the iconic villain that she was. What drew you to the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CRAIG GILLESPIE: I got a call from American film producer Sean Bailey at Disney and he said, \u201cWhat do you think of Cruella De Vil with Emma Stone and I said, \u2018That sounds amazing.\u201d And then he said, \u201cIt will be 1970s punk London.\u201d And I was immediately drawn to it. That whole combination sounded so exciting to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: We know Emma Stone as the sweet girl <em>in La La Land<\/em> and <em>The Amazing Spider Man<\/em> \u2013 I guess she\u2019s not front of mind for a big villain like this. What made you say, \u201cEmma Stone is our Cruella?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: From the work that I\u2019ve seen her do over the years, she\u2019s had such range between dramatic and comedic work. There\u2019s no hesitation for me, she can have such poise and charisma and she can be intimidating in scenes and she can be strong and powerful and then she\u2019s got this Lucille Ball quality that turns out in the most surprising of ways. She can be physical with her humor. She does it all. That was my hope as we were doing <em>Cruella<\/em>. It\u2019s such a heightened character and such a range that we had to delve into as both Cruella and the person she is before she turns into Cruella. I couldn\u2019t think of anybody better for the role than Emma Stone.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_194091\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194091\" style=\"width: 3072px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194091 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/CRU-00208-p1f6jdjc8b6hu1qgm16v3158h165q.jpg\" alt=\"Cruella\" width=\"3072\" height=\"2048\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194091\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Costume Designer Jenny Beavan and director Craig Gillespie on set. Credit: Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Glenn Close\u2019s role as Cruella De Vil in the 1996 film <em>101 Dalmatians<\/em> became iconic. She is now an executive producer on <em>Cruella<\/em>. How much influence did she have on scenes? And how valuable was her input?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: Glenn had worked with Australian writer Tony McNamara on the film <em>The Favorite<\/em>. I had just been working on a screenplay with Tony and Glenn and I both really wanted Tony to do the script and that really set the tone of what we were going for. It was a joy to work on together. We supported each other \u2013 it was a beautifully collaborative effort \u2013 and Glenn has so much range to pull from her toolbox. It was an incredible joy to watch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Glenn is a very big voice for women. How important was it that this backstory of this female character was told? She obviously played the big villain role at a time when there were <em>so<\/em> many male superheroes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: She did an amazing job in that film. Looking back on it, she really doesn\u2019t hold back. The dialogue is really fun and she goes for it. We\u2019re sort of in a different place and with this film, we were setting out to something that was distinctly different. We couldn\u2019t have gone down that <em>101 Dalmatians<\/em> road \u2013 Glenn had done it so well \u2013 and we really wanted to come up with our own character and Emma wanted to show what her version of that would be. Tony\u2019s writing gives the groundwork for that. It\u2019s very much Cruella\u2019s journey and about a strong-willed, powerful personality and the challenges she faces against another strong woman, The Baroness, played by Emma Thompson. The whole story revolves around their conflict and the two of them going head-to-head. That was a great take on the story and was really exciting for me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: What can audiences expect? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: It\u2019s an incredible rollercoaster of a movie. It\u2019s emotional in places but it\u2019s also got a punk rock n\u2019 roll vibe to it. It\u2019s fast and aggressive in places and ultimately is a lot of fun. We\u2019ve actually got close to 50 songs featuring in this film, from The Doors to The Clash to Queen and Doris Day. I was really, really happy with the tone that we landed on. We\u2019re really trying to create something unique and it feels original and that\u2019s what I\u2019m most proud of.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_194093\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194093\" style=\"width: 940px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194093 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/emma-stone-cruella.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"940\" height=\"529\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194093\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Music plays a really big role in the film \u2013 but in <em>Cruella<\/em>, it\u2019s matched by <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through\">her <\/span>the wardrobe department. Cruella is very fashionable. Did you work closely with the costume designer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: The costume designer <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/cruella-costumes\/\">Jenny Beavan<\/a> is absolutely amazing \u2013 and this project was a behemoth for her. There were so many wardrobe changes and you\u2019ve got two lead characters \u2013 Emma Stone and Emma Thompson \u2013 who are playing fashion icons. So, on top of the enormous amount of wardrobe changes and gala scenes \u2013 I think there were 400 extras all in 70s-inspired, elaborate, contemporary garments \u2013 Jenny also had to design two lines of clothing and that was so challenging. People can be so critical of fashion and if it didn\u2019t feel authentic, and worthy of how we were trying to set the characters up, it could really take away from the film. Trying to design two very separate fashion lines which felt of the 70s and were still contemporary was an enormous task and she killed it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: What was Emma Thompson like to work with?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: She\u2019s had such a career, she\u2019s also a writer and I felt like I was fairly familiar with her as an actor. But then she came out with a character and these mannerisms and traits that I had never seen before in her work. It was so exciting to see this character come to life and the nuance, and how specific it was. To see that performance, and then watch Emma Stone react off of it, it\u2019s honestly my favorite scenes when it\u2019s the two of them in a room together. Fortunately, we have a lot of those scenes!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_194086\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194086\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194086 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/cruella-disney-emma-thompson-baroness-red-carpet.png\" alt=\"Cruella\" width=\"1400\" height=\"929\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194086\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Did COVID-19 change your filming schedule?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: We were very lucky. We finished filming in November of 2019 so I got to do all the post production during lockdown. In some ways, it gave us more time to perfect things. It was a very luxurious post schedule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: You would be part of very few films releasing at the moment that got the full set experience. Day-to-day, what was the vibe like on set?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: It was very ambitious. I like to keep it very loose and spontaneous, so as much as we were always going off Tony\u2019s words and scripts, there was room to improvise and have fun and throw things out there and see how actors respond to each other. We got time to play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Was there a particularly challenging scene to film?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: It\u2019s quite a large film. Literally every week, we\u2019d go \u201cOh, it\u2019s quite a large week this week!\u2019 [Laughs]. Every week there was some scene that had 400 extras, a complicated moment and it seemed to be week after week after week. There\u2019s a scene in the middle of the movie where we are introduced to Cruella at a big gala and there\u2019s a very complex situation going on in that scene that lasts for about 13 minutes. That was really a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_194061\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194061\" style=\"width: 5422px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194061 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/CRU-18922_R.jpg\" alt=\"Cruella\" width=\"5422\" height=\"3050\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194061\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: You have had such great success \u2013 <em>I, Tonya <\/em>was incredible \u2013 as your success rises, are you any less nervous the night before the release of a film ? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: [Laughs] I\u2019m less nervous as we sit here right now. If I was sitting in a theatre watching it, I get so anxious!\u00a0 It\u2019s so nerve-racking. All I can say is I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to be able to do what I love and make projects that I\u2019m confident and happy with. I set out to really make something that I can respond to \u2013 and I was thrilled that we got to do that again on Cruella. I feel really, really happy with it. We will see how people respond. Bizarrely, because of COVID, we haven\u2019t really had a chance to show it to many people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: How much of your work do you take home with you at night?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: All of it, all of the time. When I\u2019m on the project, it\u2019s 24\/7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRAZIA: Last question. Let\u2019s pretend GRAZIA readers are in the cinema and are about to watch the film. What do you say to them?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GILLESPIE: [Laughs]. Basically, I\u2019d just say, \u201cSit back and enjoy it. It\u2019s really a fun ride.\u201d I think that\u2019s going to be the surprise, it just doesn\u2019t let up.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"price-style\"><strong><em>Cruella <\/em>is released into cinemas and on disney+ on May 28. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":24422,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cruella: In Conversation With Film Director Craig Gillespie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an exclusive interview, Hollywood director Craig Gillespie sits down with GRAZIA to talk about his highly anticipated new film Cruella \u2013 and how Emma Stone morphed into the deliciously wicked, notoriously fashionable and revenge-bent villain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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