DVDizzy Forum

Angelina Jolie got in touch with the evil side of her "Maleficent" role while filming, which included pranking her co-stars.

Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson caught up with actor Sharlto Copley at the "Elysium" junket where he dished on working with Angelina in the Disney big screen story of the "Sleeping Beauty" villain.

"It was amazing. We pranked each other like crazy," the actor, who plays Stefan, in the Disney movie said.

"She is a very serious prankster," he continued, but stopped short of saying just how the star messed with the South African actor, who audiences might best know from "District 9."

"It is so intense and so controversial that I probably can't [reveal what she did]," she told Shaun. "That's how intense it was.

"The gloves were off. We had an amazing time, two crazy people, doing crazy pranks. We got on super well and had a great time," the actor recalled. "I was like, 'Oh my God, she went there?! OK, that opens the door for me to go there!"

Shooting on the pair's Disney movie is over, however, the pranks might not be.

"I don't know if the pranking is over yet, but I think she'll admit that I won," he said with a smile.

Catch Sharlto in "Elysium," with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, on August 9.

thedisneyspirit wrote: wtf dude, you shouldn't depend on the media for your hapiness. that isn't healthy

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:

thedisneyspirit wrote: wtf dude, you shouldn't depend on the media for your hapiness. that isn't healthy

was that aimed at me ? I was referring to the actor, not the poster....

Candy-Bonita95 wrote: 1) Is Del Toro still directing this?

2)Is the script really that awful? I didn't mind the romance between Oz and Theodora,but it was poorly executed.This whole "Maleficient is mommy-like to Aurora" is just confusing.There is no indication in the original movie that Maleficient is mommy-like.

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:....was that the only thing revealed so far ? Been flooded with info on other stuff, but this movie is really lacking!

The film will introduce Maleficent as a teenage fairy, depicting the ruthlessness of human king Stefan (Sharlto Copley), and revisiting the christening of Princess Aurora (played as a young woman by Elle Fanning). The three magical pixies (Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, and Lesley Manville) turn out to be not so good at raising a child, and Maleficent becomes intrigued by Aurora after she casts her curse.

The first-ever clip came from the christening scene. Fairies fly toward a castle and toward the baby, gifting her with wishes. Then things get dark and windy, and chandeliers start to shake. Maleficent’s horns appear, and then her shadow.

She sweeps into the room in a giant gown that envelopes the stairs. “Well well,” she laughs. “I must say I felt quite distressed not receiving an invitation. What an awkward situation.”

“You’re not welcome here,” the king declares. But Maleficent isn’t listening. Green energy and smoke surround her as she starts to cast her curse. Intercut with this scene is footage of an older Aurora running around happily. As we all know, the end result is that Aurora will fall into a deep slumber as a young adult, from which she can only be woken by true love’s kiss.

Peter described the first footage as as “really look[ing] like a Disney fairy tale come to life.” But star Angelina Jolie promised that the villainess’ point of view would have some “edge” and be a little “sexy,” so we can likely look forward to something a little more grown-up than the 1959 animated classic. Either way, the reaction in the room seemed quite positive.

Maleficent arrives July 2, 2014. Here’s the newer, more detailed official synopsis:

“Maleficent” is the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic “Sleeping Beauty.” A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.

Angelina Jolie says she frightened numerous small children while playing the lead role in Maleficent, Disney’s villain-themed take on Sleeping Beauty‘s fairy tale.

“The strange thing was people with little kids would visit the set and I would think, ‘I’m a Disney character!’” Jolie said at the D23 fan convention in Anaheim, Calif., right next to Disneyland, where far less-famous actors play such characters.

“I’d go over to the children and say hi,” she told the crowd. “And they would scream and run off. One little boy actually said Mommy, ‘Please, tell the mean witch to please stop talking to me.’”

Hey, kid — purists would tell you Maleficent is an evil fairy. Not a witch. But okay.
Before showing off footage from the 2014 film, Jolie said it was slightly easier acting opposite the very young version of Princess Aurora/Briar Rose, since it was played by her daughter, Vivienne.

“She was the only 4-year-old who wouldn’t scream,” Jolie said. Elle Fanning plays the teenage Aurora.
The film, directed by Oscar-winning production designer Robert Stromberg, is a shift on the Disney animated version from 1959. Jolie said he brought a particularly acute sense of detail to the fairy tale world. “But It has to be from the point of view of the villain, so as beautiful as it was it also needed the edge, and to be a little sexy and little darker.”

Studio production chief Sean Bailey said it will include many allusions to that earlier film, however. “We’ll see the epic battle with of the dragon, but this time, just maybe, we may find ourselves rooting for the other side,” he says.

Although she may have been a bracing presence in real life, Jolie — speaking as a mom of many — said she hoped families would warm to the villainess — who was one of her favorites from childhood.
“My children love Disney,” she said. “You know you can bring your kids to a Disney film.”

She said she always was drawn to the scary Maleficent from the cartoon version as a child herself.

“Since I was a little girl, Maleficent was always my favorite. I was terrified of her, but I was so drawn to her. I wanted to know more about her, know what she was like and who she was,” Jolie said. “She had this elegance and grace, and yet she was so cruel, Just wonderfully and deliciously cruel.”

When word came out that Disney was developing a live-action version, she said members of her family remembered her fascination. “I got a call form my brother who said, ‘You’ve got to try to get in on this,’” Jolie said.

The footage previewed at D23 corresponded closely to the animated classic.
It begins with good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, flitting through the castle on their way to bestow gifts on the newborn Princess Aurora while a sinister looking king played by Sharlto Copely (District 9) glowers on.
While they bless her with spells wishing for a happy life, a dark wind blows through the castle, swaying iron chandeliers and sending the inhabitants cowering. A shadow rises, with two familiar curled horns.
Jolie’s black-clad Maleficent, who had a much earlier, uglier encounter with the king, has arrived before the court.

“Well, well …” she says, and smiles. “I must say I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation.”

“You’re not welcome here,” the king snarls.

Maleficent sighs, looking back at the frightened court denizens. “What an awkward situation!” she says, as her crow lands on the baby’s bassinet.

“Listen well, all of you,” she says, in a voice eerily reminiscent of Eleanor Audley, who voiced the animated character. “The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty. But before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel — and fall into a sleeplike death … woken only by true love’s kiss.”

She cackles as the footage fades to the title: MALEFICENT.