If starring in a live-action remake of a beloved Disney animated classic won’t scare Paul Walter Hauser, no evil thing will. The I, Tonya and BlackKkKlansman scene-stealer is in talks to join Emma Stone in the Cruella cast.

Paul Walter Hauser of I, Tonya fame is in talks to join Cruella, the live-action Cruella de Vil movie starring Emma Stone as a younger version of the 101 Dalmatians fur-loving villainess, according to The Wrap. Hauser is up for the role of Roger, the same name as the husband of the couple who own the titular Dalmatians in 101 Dalmatians.

It’s unknown whether Hauser will be playing that same Roger, a character that is supposedly the same age or several years younger than Cruella. Hauser, at 32, is only two years older than Stone and so could ostensibly fit in the role, though his version of the character would be a departure from the character in the animated film who was depicted as a lanky, bohemian songwriter that had never met Cruella until he married her schoolmate Anita. Though it would give Hauser a chance to give his spin on this iconic song:

Hauser is soon set to shoot Warner Bros.’ Richard Jewell, a drama based on the story of the security guard considered a suspect during the Atlanta Olympics bombing in 1996, but with Cruella reportedly eyeing a September production start date, that would enable Hauser to shoot both films back-to-back.

Apart from Stone, the cast of Cruella also includes Emma Thompson in a role currently being kept under wraps. The film will reportedly act as something of a prequel to 101 Dalmatians, following “a young Cruella before she schemed to skin the black-and-white spotted puppies for her fur coat,” according to The Wrap. However, few details are known about this film, which has been in development for nearly six years now. It’s also uncertain whether this live-action film would take its cues from the 1996 101 Dalmatians live-action remake starring Glenn Close, which shifted the timeline to modern day in the mid-1990s. This would be quite the departure from the then-present day 1960s setting of the original film. It would certainly be fun to see Stone in ’50s period garb though.

Cruella was recently set for a December 23, 2020 release date, so we can probably expect the movie to shoot sometime later this year. Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) is directing the movie, having previously worked with Disney on the sports drama Million Dollar Arm and the Coast Guard true story The Finest Hours. He’s working from a script written by Dana Fox, recently rewritten by Tony McNamara.

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