With “Maleficent,” the postmodern take on “Sleeping Beauty,” gaining momentum at Disney, there’s also a star who could be surging with it: Angelina Jolie.
Earlier this week, the news broke that Disney had hired its longtime collaborator Linda Woolverton (“Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King”) to work on the screenplay for the live-action take on the 50-year-old hit. (Maleficent is the evil fairy godmother in the Disney film; this story would be told, “Wicked”-like, from her perspective.)
Both Tim Burton and Angelina Jolie had last spring been rumored to join the project, which Disney has been kicking around for a while as a way to mine its library, among other things. Burton’s involvement remains unclear as he contemplates several projects. But sources say that, as of the last few weeks, Jolie is keen on the film and would like to sign on to play the titular villain.
There’s no deal (or, for that matter, script) yet. And it’s unclear if Jolie’s involvement would be conditional on Burton moving forward with it too. But it’s nonetheless notable that Jolie — who has no new movie after shooting the international thriller “The Tourist” — is actively engaging with the material and could, according to sources, very well star in the film when all is said and done.
A Disney spokesman this week said the company would not comment on anything “Maleficent”-related. Jolie manager Geyer Kosinski could not be reached for comment Thursday.
A quick primer on Maleficent: The wicked fairy godmother is the character who casts the original spell on Sleeping Beauty (a.k.a. Princess Aurora, quoth Wikipedia) that the young girl will prick herself on a splinter and die; Maleficent is an archrival of sorts to the good fairy godmother, who casts a counter-spell that says the girl will sleep for a century and then be awakened by the kiss of a prince. The original versions of the fairy tale don’t name Maleficent; the character was named and shaped by Disney for its 1959 film, and would of course be deepened and amplified for this one.
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