Emma Stone reportedly in talks to play lead in 'Cruella'

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Emma Stone may grab the lead role in the upcoming live-action Disney flick, Cruella.

The 27-year-old Aloha actress is in early negotiations for the role of notorious fashion-obsessed villain Cruella de Vil for the still director-less film, Hollywood Reporter says. Production is reportedly planned to begin this year.

The upcoming film follows the release of 2014's Maleficent, which re-imagined characters featured in the classic 1959 Disney film Sleeping Beauty and starred Angelina Jolie.

Cruella, expected to tell the story of the famously treacherous character's origin, is being written by Kelly Marcel while screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna helped develop an early version of the script, the Reporter notes.

In the 1961 original 101 Dalmatians, De Vil was portrayed as a character obsessed with choice furs willing to hire burglars to steal 101 puppies from a modest couple to get her wish. The over-the-top role was first played in a live-action movie by Glenn Close.

In a recent interview, fellow actress Jennifer Lawrence described Emma Stone as very "theater," and passionate about her career.

Speaking with Glamour magazine, Lawrence said Stone has "never had a bad thought about anybody in her life," and expressed how she and the Birdman actress recently "stayed up until, like, six in the morning talking about [deciding to become actresses] the other night. We both were just like, 'I just knew.'"

Stone will hit the big screen again in La La Land opposite Ryan Gosling. The film is set for a July 15 release.