Exclusive: Mark Strong teases his favorite moments from Disney’s Cruella

Mark Strong talks to us about his character in Disney’s Cruella, and teases what fans can expect from this live-action adventure.

Disney is currently in the process of going through its old catalog and giving it new life with a variety of live-action sequels, reboots and prequels. Cruella is the latest movie to come out of this.

A prequel to the 1961 animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the film is directed by Craig Gillespie and features Emma Stone in the lead as the fabulous titular character. Joining her in the cast are Emma Thompson, who plays a character who simply goes by the name “the Baroness,” and Mark Strong, who plays a mysterious character named John who stays by the Baroness’ side.

Winter Is Coming caught up with Mark Strong via Zoom recently to learn all about the new Disney movie, and he revealed to us some of his favorite costumes, teased his favorite scenes and revealed much more about the exciting new live-action movie. You can watch our entire interview with Strong in the clip below, or read on for an edited transcript of our interview with the actor.

Winter Is Coming (Mia Johnson): So, let’s just jump right into it! I saw the movie over the weekend; I was so impressed. I was like, “This one really tops the list of these new Disney movies for me.” 

Mark Strong: Right? I think so. I think these live-action remakes that they’re doing, they’re all interesting. But there’s something a little bit special about this one because it’s a kind of dark, edgy kind of vibe. And, you know, the fashion and the music, the soundtrack and the size of some of those sequences. It’s really like, it’s great guns on every level.

Yes! And so I want to talk about your character specifically because this is kind of a new character. I went back and watch the original. I was like, “Okay, I didn’t see this character in the original.” So can you just talk about your character, John, just a little bit?

Well, John is a classic English butler — or valet. And he is the right-hand man of the evil Baroness played by Emma Thompson. And he knows her secrets. He knows everything about her, but he plays his cards very close to his chest. They go back, you know, back into some skullduggery in her past. And he stayed with her all this time. And you have to kind of work out why. I’m sure Craig cast me actually because you just assume I’m going to be a villain!

(Laughs.) I didn’t want to say that, but…

Yeah, you know, I love playing the villains. And I’ve done a lot of them. And I’m sure we’re playing with that a little bit in this. And you just make assumptions about the character that then interestingly, develop in a way you might not be expecting.

I like that. And for you — you kind of talked about this already — it is a brand new story to tell. We’re talking about Cruella De Vil, her backstory. When you first got the script, or were parsing through it, what stood out to you about this movie in particular?

Well, to be honest with you, I mean, I met Craig before I’d seen the script because I love Craig’s films that he’d done in the past. He did Lars and the Real Girl and I, Tonya, you know, to two really great movies that I really liked. So I knew of him as a director.

And when the meeting came up, I went to see him before I’d even read the script. And he said to me, “Listen, you know, you spend a lot of time lurking in this movie, but you have a presence. I’m going to give you a presence, and there is a reason for it. And you’ll find out why.”

And I was like, “I don’t care, man!” I mean, because I think he’s great. And I think Emma Stone is great. And Emma Thompson I love too. So I just thought, you know, “What could possibly go wrong?” I mean, the sequences in the way it was kind of put together are just incredibly impressive. It makes for a really fun night in the theater.

That leads me to my next question, actually, which — It’s so impressive. It looks like you had a lot of practical sets, not too much CGI. So what sets stood out to you? Either a scene that you were filming or maybe had not been a part of, but you were just like, “Wow, this is really impressive.”

Well, I’m present at pretty much — I think there are three big ballroom sequences. And I’m present at all of those. And when you turn up on set, and you see the size of those sets, the way that has been put together, you know, the reality of them.

There wasn’t any CGI in those sequences. There really are hundreds of extras all dressed the same or you know, dressed in the French — we had a French ballroom sequence. Everybody’s in these huge outfits. It was just really impressive. Jenny Beavan, the costume designer, definitely deserves a mention because the dresses that she also creates for Emma Stone’s Cruella are phenomenal. I mean, there’s some great moments in it. And so I was just, yeah, blown away really turning up on set. You don’t really need to do any acting. It’s all done for you.

That’s wonderful! Did you have any ensembles or costumes was that stuck out to you either with Cruella or the Baroness? I know the fashion of it all was just so amazing.

Yeah, I love the day — and I don’t think it’s giving too much — I’ll just say there is one sequence where everybody turns up dressed with the… sort of little black dresses and the Cruella wigs. Being on set that day was quite bizarre because obviously Emma was on set that day as well — also dressed the same — and you just never knew where she was…because everybody looked the same on that day. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a set like that before.

That’s great! And when I watch these movies, I’m like, “It looks like everyone pulled everything off flawlessly, you know? It went off without a hitch.” But would you say there was one moment that might have been a little bit challenging for you? Or kind of hard to kind of get right? Are you just perfect? That’s also fine!

No, no, it’s not that I’m perfect. But everything was so meticulously planned that the chances of something going wrong are really minimized. You know, when you are dealing with hundreds of extras, when you are dealing with a massive set. With all of the kind of moving parts. I think there’s one [that] has a swing in it, one has a giant cake. You know, there’s a whole sequence where there’s a bunch of rats, somebody has to swing off the chandelier. All of that has to be so meticulously planned that it can’t go wrong. And to be honest with you, during my sequences, nothing did. I mean, my stuff was pretty straightforward, to be honest.

Okay, that’s good to hear! And then, my final question: what are you excited for fans to see as they come into this movie?

I’m really excited for them to see something big. You know, we’ve been streaming on our TV screens now for a year. And I would love the idea that people get back into the theater, get back into the cinema, [and] see it on a big screen because this is a big-screen movie. You know, there are these huge sequences, this kicking soundtrack. I mean, Emma Stone is phenomenal in it. Emma Thompson is also fantastic. Wears some incredible outfits — the both of them do. And it’s just the size of the thing is like, it’s a cinema movie; it needs to be seen on a big screen. So I hope that this is something that will help people feel confident enough to go back into the movies!

Cruella heads to theaters and Disney+ via Premier Access on Friday, May 28.

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