Emma Thompson in talks to join Cruella de Vil origin movie

Emma Thompson looks set to join the upcoming live-action Cruella De Vil origin story, Cruella.

The 60-year-old British actress is in negotiations to play a powerful character simply called the Baroness, opposite Emma Stone who will play a younger version of the 101 Dalmatians villain, Collider reports.

Set in London in the groovy 1970’s, Cruella is a brilliant clothing designer who toils as a lowly department store worker. After a chance meeting with the Baroness, she sees the woman wearing a familiar locket, which is the secret to unlocking the mystery surrounding the death of Cruella's mother.

I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie is helming the project, with Tony McNamara and Dana Fox penning the script. The movie is set for release in December 2020.

In the original 1961 animated classic, Cruella was a villain obsessed with capturing the Dalmatian puppies belonging to Anita and Roger, and the new live-action movie will reportedly explain why dogs are so important to the character’s backstory.

Cruella was previously played by Glenn Close in a 1996 live-action movie, alongside Joely Richardson and Jeff Daniels, and its subsequent sequel which hit cinemas in 2000, with Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans.

Double Oscar winner Thompson is no stranger to Disney fairytales, having played Mrs. Potts in 2017’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. She also starred opposite Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks, in which she played elusive Mary Poppins author, P.L. Travers.

She’ll next be seen alongside Mindy Kaling in the Amazon Studios comedy Late Night, which will hit screens on 7 June. Her summer blockbuster with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, Men in Black: International, is released the following week.