Watch & Listen: 'Cruella' Brings In Florence And The Machine For Original Song "Call Me Cruella"
Cruella de Vil is coming back to the big screen, but this time we're finding out how the notorious dognapper actually became the 101 Dalmatians villain. Cruella has Emma Stone (La La Land) playing a young version of the future fur fashionista, and she'll be accompanied by a new original song by the Grammy-nominated Florence and The Machine. Hear the song below, along with some new footage from Cruella.
Florence and The Machine Cruella Song
Entitled "Call Me Cruella," the full song will be released on May 21 as part of the original motion picture soundtrack and score albums for Cruella. The song has all the trademarks of a song by Florence and The Machine, who you may have previously heard in films like The Great Gatsby, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The lyrics heard in the footage above describe the titular character as "original, criminal, and dressed to kill." The song continues, "Call me crazy, call me insane. But you're stuck in the past, and I'm ahead of the game." It's much better than just giving the famous Cruella De Vil song from 101 Dalmatians a haunting cover.
Lead singer Florence Welch said in a press release:
"Some of the first songs I ever learned how to sing were Disney songs. And the villains often got the best numbers. So to help create and perform a song for 'Cruella' is the fulfillment of a long held childhood dream. I'm so grateful to Nicholas Britell and Disney for allowing me so much creative freedom, and for trusting me with Cruella's beautiful madness."
Composer Nicholas Britell's collaboration with Florence and The Machine has the same flair as the score. Britell explained, "With both this song and the Cruella score itself, the goal was to really embrace the raw rock aesthetic of 60's and 70's London. We recorded everything using all vintage gear and analog tape at Abbey Road and AIR Studios in London, melding orchestral elements with electric guitars and basses, organs, keyboards, and drums."
Britell's scores for films like If Beale Street Could Talk and Moonlight have been among some of the best work composed for films in recent years. Knowing how wild the vibe of Cruella is, it'll be interesting to see what Britell does with a completely different musical influence and style.
Here's the official synopsis for Cruella, coming to theaters and Disney Premier Access starting on May 28, 2021:
Academy Award winner Emma Stone ("La La Land") stars in Disney's "Cruella," an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. "Cruella," which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella's flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson ("Howards End," "Sense & Sensibility"). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.