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May 27 (UPI) -- Kirby Howell-Baptiste is sharing her longtime love of the character Cruella de Vil. The 34-year-old actress discussed her upcoming film Cruella during Thursday's episode of Good Morning America.
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Cruella is a prequel to Disney's 1996 animated film 101 Dalmatians and serves as an origin story for Cruella de Vil, played by Emma Stone in the new movie. Howell-Baptiste plays Anita Darling, a childhood friend of Cruella's and a gossip columnist.
On GMA, Howell-Baptiste said she's been intrigued by Cruella since she was young.
"I was a big Cruella fan. I actually kind of struggled calling her a villain. She obviously is a villain, but I don't know -- when I was a kid I was just taken by her," the star said.
"She was so deranged and this kind of woman on the edge," she explained. "Actually, one Halloween I went as Cruella de Vil."
Howell-Baptiste described the dynamic between Cruella (Stone) and her character, Anita, who meet in school and cross paths later in life.
"When they meet again, they're both adults sort of in the throes of their career but needing and wanting more," she said. "I think they meet each other at a time when they can do a lot for each other. They very much share ambition."
Howell-Baptiste said it was "such a different experience" seeing Cruella in theaters, which have started to reopen nationwide.
"This kind of film is so grand, and the costumes are so amazing and the set design is so awe-inspiring that I think you have to see it on the big screen and really take it in," she said.
Stone and Thompson discussed the film's elaborate costumes at a recent press conference.
Cruella is directed by Craig Gillespie and co-stars Emma Thompson, Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser. The film opens in theaters and will be released on Disney+ on Friday.
