Dame Emma Thompson’s Cruella challenge

Dame Emma Thompson’s “great challenge” In ‘Cruella’ was walking in heels. The 63-year-old actress portrays The Baroness in the upcoming origins tale of the ‘101 Dalmatians’ villain and she admitted she “hates” wearing uncomfortable shoes and wasn’t surprised when she fell over during one particularly tricky scene. She told Total Film: “My great challenge was to survive the heels the Baroness wears as I hate high heels. “There was this one scene where I Was literally standing at the top of a flight of very slippery stairs in a pair of high heels, with a glass of Champagne [in one hand] and the three Dalmatians in the other - and a huge frock with a wig that’s a foot high... “I said to Craig (Gillespie, director), ‘This is not going to end well. I’m going to be pulled down these stairs.’ “I didn’t fall over until I got to the bottom of the stairs... but I did fall over.” Emma also admitted it was challenging having to play a rival to Emma Stone’s Cruella De Ville, because they’re such “good friends” in real life. She said: “It was quite hard for me to have any friction with Emma because we’re such good friends and love each other. “I met her long before this project so I knew that we were going to have a good time.” The veteran actress was in love with her fashion designer character’s wardrobe - but didn’t take any of the garments home because they were so uncomfortable. She said: “There were some costumes that were so beautiful, I didn’t want to take them off. “But in the end, you have to take them off because you’re wearing a corset underneath and the corsets are fantastically uncomfortable. “So that saved me from, you know, rushing off with half of them.”