Emma Thompson in early talks to join Cruella

Dame Emma Thompson is reportedly in early talks to join 'Cruella'.

The 'Children Act' star is said to be negotiating a deal with Disney to star alongside Emma Stone, who is taking on the titular villainess Cruella De Vil in the live-action prequel to '101 Dalmatians', which is set to hit screens on December 23, 2020.

Thompson's part is currently unknown.

Little else is known about the upcoming film, which follows the life of a young Cruella, but in December it was claimed it will have an 80s punk vibe.

Craig Gillespie - who helmed 'I, Tonya' in 2017 - is set to direct.

Alex Timbers was initially helming the project, but was forced to walk away from the movie due to scheduling issues.

'Cruella' - which centres on the character first seen in the 1961 animated classic - is being produced by Andrew Gunn, Marc Platt and Kristin Burr.

Thompson has a number of projects in post-production, including 'The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle', in which she voices Polynesia, and she is also reprising her role as Agent O in 'Men in Black: International'.

Meanwhile, the 'Bridget Jones's Baby' actress recently called for better treatment of writers in Hollywood.

The 60-year-old star explained that many big budget movies begin shooting before the screenplay is finished because they want to start filming immediately once a big star is attached to the project, and said writers often receive "lip service" about the quality of their work.

However, the 'Sense and Sensibility' star shared that "after 30 years of doing this" she believes writing the script during shooting "makes things so much more difficult" and insisted that she doesn't want to make movies "with unfinished scripts".

She said: "One of the reasons is that they need stars - big stars - who work all the time and have to be fitted into timescales. What happens is there'll be an idea for a story.

"It will be in development, and then suddenly two of the big stars come free, and everyone says, 'right, let's shoot it, we'll work it out as we shoot'.

"One thing I know, after 30 years of doing this, is you can't work it out while you shoot ... It always ends up just making things so much more difficult in post-production.

"This is a tradition - and yet, when there is a good screenplay, and everyone recognises that it's a good screenplay, there's a lot of fuss and a tremendous amount of what can only be described as lip service to the value of good writing.

"And then everything continues as before. That's what happens, and I don't know how to change that. But I know that I don't want to make films with unfinished scripts."