DVDizzy Forum

I just found an interview with Tim Burton about Alice in Wonderland, but also the possibility of him directing a Sleeping Beauty film. Well, the latter has been officialy denied by Tim Burton himself.

http://www.fandango.com/commentator_exc ... erland_319

Q: Rumor has it you might be directing Sleeping Beauty.

[Laughs]. Nope, that's a rumor alright.

While the interview mentions Sleeping Beauty, and not Maleficent specifically - I still think this rumor can be put to rest. From the start I already thought this was too good to be true. Would have been awesome though. Oh well...

What a shame! I was really looking forward to seeing this.... ah well.

Maleficent Movie Is Go
Linda Woolverton writing the script
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=27386

"You might recall that, back in January, we reported on Tim Burton circling a new planned take on the Sleeping Beauty story, one that would focus on the evil queen Maleficent. Well, it’s definitely going ahead, though Burton is still not officially attached."

EW. Linda Woolverton better redeem herself after the mess that was Alice.

WOOHOO!

I will be happy to see Sleeping beauty in live-action...but unhappy that I can't direct it.

Linda Woolverton will probably do to her what she did to the Red Queen. I actually liked that and thought it was good...but I don't know if it will work for Maleficent.

This will only be a "what if", "maybe this happened", not the real Sleeping Beauty story, and I must keep that in mind.

Hey lord-of-sith, you know ho you suggested Bebe Neuwirth as Maleficent, and I thought she'd be great, too? Well, Marc Davis, who you know animated Maleficent, was a fan of the Addams Family cartoons, so he probably partly based her character on Morticia Addams, as they do look alike and have dark humor, and Bebe Neuwirth plays Morticia Addams in the Addams Family musical right now!

Wow, so no rumor after all. Sweet.

I honestly do hope they can snag Burton for this project, I really loved the tone and surroundings of Alice in Wonderland, the writing however not so much. I guess her script for her first movie at Disney did exceptionally well and still is doing good, so she gets a second by default.

I hope Linda Woolverton is hit by the muses again. As much as I loved Alice in Wonderland, her pedestrian screenplay kept it from achieving true brilliance (and that's even after Burton made her make some changes for the better). Let's see if she comes up with something less ho-hum for Maleficent. As someone who adores Sleeping Beauty, I'm going to be the first to admit that I'm not so worried about her robbing the characters of their identities like she did with Alice since, well, Sleeping Beauty isn't known for its strong characters. There's only really room to screw up with Maleficent herself and the three good fairies.

It'll be interesting to see if Helena Bonham Carter does, indeed, get cast in the title role. I'm sure if cast, she'll do a good job, but I'd like to see someone different take this on. With all of the Addams family talk going around, it's made me think that Angelica Houston could really knock that part out of the park. She has the cold nobility that Maleficent has, and she's the right age, as well.

I'm scared to see who they cast for Sleeping Beauty, it could make or break it for me.

I find the idea of this movie somewhat bizarre and maybe, possibly, a little ridiculus? I mean, the whole "villain's story" thing is interesting (it always is), but this is kind of a worn-out concept at this point and this is taking it to the extreme. And Maleficent is a weird and, probably, not the most understandable choice for a movie like this--the only Disney villain I could really see them making a movie about is the Evil Queen (and that's been done already, though in a general sense, with Sigourney Weaver). Not only is she very similar to the Wicked Witch (and more likely to cause people to write this off as a Wicked wannabe, trying to grab a little of the book/musical's success), but Sleeping Beauty is arguably the least well-known/liked of all the 'princess' films. I just think this could be a bad idea to begin with, but, mostly, I'm just ambivalent.

Can't wait for the tagline: "Elphaba had it bad, but Mally's not only green--she has horns, too!" So sad.

(And now I'll leave my negativity to myself, like I tried to with Tangled; )

bah, should of stayed as a rumor.

Writing a story for this will be too easy as Disney did this already in form of a freaking children book and all they will just have to do is copy/paste.

Disney, 'Alice' scribe team for film about 'Sleeping Beauty's' evil queen (exclusive)
http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/03/d ... um=twitter
Having scored a hit with "Alice in Wonderland," Disney and screenwriter Linda Woolverton are teaming to bring to the big screen "Maleficent," a live-action take on the evil queen in the 1959 animated classic "Sleeping Beauty."

Now Malificant is an evil queen?

Disney's Divinity wrote:I find the idea of this movie somewhat bizarre and maybe, possibly, a little ridiculus? I mean, the whole "villain's story" thing is interesting (it always is), but this is kind of a worn-out concept at this point and this is taking it to the extreme. And Maleficent is a weird and, probably, not the most understandable choice for a movie like this--the only Disney villain I could really see them making a movie about is the Evil Queen (and that's been done already, though in a general sense, with Sigourney Weaver). Not only is she very similar to the Wicked Witch (and more likely to cause people to write this off as a Wicked wannabe, trying to grab a little of the book/musical's success), but Sleeping Beauty is arguably the least well-known/liked of all the 'princess' films. I just think this could be a bad idea to begin with, but, mostly, I'm just ambivalent.

Can't wait for the tagline: "Elphaba had it bad, but Mally's not only green--she has horns, too!" So sad.

(And now I'll leave my negativity to myself, like I tried to with Tangled; )

Ew. Wicked...

Okay, so someone suggested Disney look at a short story by Neil Gaimon of "Coraline" fame that tells the story of Snow White from the Queen's point of view, called "Snow, Glass, Apples". It was about the queen being a good ruler and saving her kingdom from the not-normal Snow White, and it was not a good idea for Maleficent or even Disney, but it was a good story I thought.

But interestingly Bebe Neuwirth played the queen in a radio version of that story, too! Maybe Disney really should hire her after she finishes as Morticia!

Also, this sounds a lot like Disney's slightly more adult-than-kid's book from the Evil Queen's point of view, Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen.

But here's the thing - what is wrong with exploring the life of a villain wthout making them sympathetic, or at least, without making them un-evil or have no control over their evil? Maleficent is quite obviously someone who has joined forces with hell and is the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil.

What I could see is what Linda did with the Red Queen. She did wicked things but also wanted love and had emotions underneath. I think Maleficent could work as someone who truly chose to be evil, but like all people, also wants love and desires along with her truly evil deeds. Maybe she just wants to do what she wants.

I hope she looks at how the Disney archives apparently has somewhere the idea that Maleficent was once part of King Stephan's court. I would think she was once a good fairy but then decided to become evil. In the original fairy tale she's just an old fairy who thinks she is disrespected, but in the Disney version she may think they underestimated her evil power, like they should have invited her to appease her so she doesn't do evil to them.

Maybe not. It still stands she chooses to be evil. I hope Linda and the director pay attention to the Disney movie and don't mess with the characters making them ways they obviously wouldn't be...but they probably won't, sigh!

Angelina Jolie to Star as Sleeping Beauty’s Evil Queen in Tim Burton’s Maleficent?
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/26/ang ... aleficent/

Angelina Jolie interested in Tim Burton’s Maleficent?
http://filmonic.com/angelina-jolie-inte ... icent-2010

Jolie 'wants lead in Tim Burton's Maleficent'
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a210 ... .html?imdb

Prince Edward wrote:Angelina Jolie to Star as Sleeping Beauty’s Evil Queen in Tim Burton’s Maleficent?
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/03/26/ang ... aleficent/

Angelina Jolie interested in Tim Burton’s Maleficent?
http://filmonic.com/angelina-jolie-inte ... icent-2010

Jolie 'wants lead in Tim Burton's Maleficent'
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a210 ... .html?imdb

Brad Pitt as Phillip?

No. Too much unwanted publicity. Movies deserve to be movies, not piggybacking on famous actors.

ajmrowland wrote:No. Too much unwanted publicity. Movies deserve to be movies, not piggybacking on famous actors.

Tell that to him:

*checks out the Depp pics and swoons*

I did, and to Dreamworks, too.