Earlier this week it was revealed that Alice in Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton was penning the script for Tim Burton to possibly direct titled Maleficent. The project is the previously rumored revisionist retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story that focuses on the Mistress of all Evil. But who could play the evil queen? I’ll just be happy if the role isn’t just handed to Burton’s fiance Helena Bonham Carter.
Now the Los Angeles Times adds that actress Angelina Jolie had been rumored to be circling the long gestating project last spring and is still “keen on the film and would like to sign on to play the titular villain.” Of course, with no screenplay yet in place, and no director officially signed to helm the project, everything is all just speculation at this point. But I could certainly see Jolie playing the evil queen. What do you think?
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Back in January it was rumored that Disney was developing another revisionist re-take on one of their cartoon classics for Tim Burton to direct. Maleficent, a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story that focuses on the Mistress of all Evil. Heatvision confirms the previous reports, adding that Alice in Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton was penning the script. The site also notes that Tim Burton may direct, but it is one of the many projects the filmmaker is circling. The screenplay for Alice in Wonderland was one of the film’s many short comings. I hope that Woolverton can turn this interesting concept into something much more.
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It bodes well for Alice in Wonderland that Disney are now reportedly lining up another revisionist re-take on one of their cartoon classics for Tim Burton to direct. Maleficent will be a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story that focuses on the Mistress of all Evil instead of that pretty somnambulist and her slightly creepy Prince Phillip.
The studio registered the domain name maleficentmovie.com some time last summer, so I’ve been waiting for news a while. Of course, until now I wasn’t entirely convinced it was going to be a live action picture – well, in so much as it will be live action, which I’m expecting will be probably to just the extent that Alice is – and not an animated spin-off, a la the Tinkerbell series or that Timon and Pumbaa picture.
One question is where this leaves Burton’s Dark Shadows, a film we had previously been told would shoot this year.
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