Actors Express Shame and Disappointment Over Lack of Lyrical Captions in Disney’s “Cruella”
Disney’s live-action Cruella has drawn criticism from actors over the movie’s lack of accessibility for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.


Photo Credit: Disney
In a cover feature by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin explained how she was “deprived” of being able to enjoy Disney’s Cruella to its full extent, since lyrical captions were not provided by the studio.
Music is a key element to most movies, and Cruella in particular that’s to its punky, 80s-inspired soundtrack. However, the lyrics sang by artists including Queen, Bee Gees, The Clash, and more, were not transcribed through the movie’s captioning technology.


Image Source: Disney
Following Matlin’s story, Cruella actor Paul Walter Hauser has also expressed his feelings towards the unacceptable lack of accessibility. In a tweet, also reported on by The Hollywood Reporter, Hauser calls out the film studios directly, describing the oversight as “unfair, awkward & rude”.
https://twitter.com/PaulWHauser/status/1422928462063489024?s=20
Hauser, who played Horace Badun in the movie, calls out the “ungodly amounts of money” available to the studios, firmly implying that if they can caption dialogue, they can caption lyrics too.
Later retweeting IndieWire editor Kristen Lopez, who responded with a supporting argument that captions aren’t included at press and media screenings of movies, Hauser demanded that “studios need to be more thoughtful” in order to avoid this “avoidable problem”.
https://twitter.com/PaulWHauser/status/1422972230141681664?s=20
Disney, who are also currently in the midst of a lawsuit from Scarlett Johansson over the streaming of Black Widow, are yet to respond to these comments. Stay tuned to MickeyBlog.com for all the latest news and updates on this story, and more.
You can read MickeyBlog’s review on Cruella here. It has been announced that four 4K Blu-ray versions of the movie will be offered later this year.