Sharlto Copley joined the Elysium panel at ComicCon and dropped some hints regarding his character in Maleficent. Copley plays Stefan, the half-human, half-fairy bastard son of King Henry and is, according to Copley, Maleficent's "true love." (In the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty, "King" Stefan is Princess Aurora's father.)
During a chat with HitFix, Copley expounded further on his thoughts about the film, calling it a "more advanced and truthful" fairytale with "He said it gives a "." He added that Maleficent shows the "truth to what love is
In related news, a few more actors have been added to Maleficent's cast, led by Peter Capaldi who earned raves for his role in the political parody In the Loop. Capaldi plays King Kinloch, a new character not seen in Sleeping Beauty.
Maleficent has assembled an exceptionally impressive cast. It has at least a dozen top actors who have all been critically acclaimed in starring or lead roles with several awards and nominations among them. Even the younger actors like Fanning and Thwaites have solid credits.
I would venture to guess that Angelina, as Executive Producer of the film and working with a first-time director, likely took it upon herself to screen and select all her co-stars and is otherwise deeply involved in every aspect of the production save the technical.
This is the first time she has taken on executive producing duties in one of her blockbuster films. Her increased involvement may be an offshoot of both her experience in Blood and Honey as well as dissatisfaction with the outcome of recent films The Tourist and, to a lesser extent, Salt. She had placed almost blind faith on von Donnermarck and Noyce and neither delivered the films she expected. Her active participation in the development, production and post-production processes bodes well for her future projects since with her stricter standards, she can ensure the quality of the final product. The same approach has helped Brad string together several critical hits including Benjamin Button, Tree of Life, Moneyball and Killing them Softly. The ongoing problems he is having with WWZ only emphasizes the importance of selecting the right talents to work with.
Angelina Jolie co-star Sharlto Copley says 'Maleficent' is a 'more honest' fairytale
SAN DIEGO - Angelina Jolie's King Stefan has spoken.
That would be Sharlto Copley, the South African actor who came to attention three years ago with his starring role in "District 9" and who recently bagged the male lead in "Maleficent" opposite the superstar American actress. Speaking to the thesp on the Comic-Con press line for Blomkamp's upcoming sophomore effort "Elysium" - a sci-fi thriller in which he stars with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster - I got Copley to hold forth a little on the revisionist "Sleeping Beauty" tale, which is currently filming in London and which he'll be returning to just as soon as his run at Comic-Con 2012 is finished.
Also on tap for the rising thesp is director Spike Lee's upcoming remake of "Oldboy," the ultra-disturbing thriller that served as the middle portion of Korean helmer Park Chan-wook's acclaimed "Vengeance Trilogy." In fact, Copley begins shooting the film - in which he plays the antagonist to Josh Brolin's character - as soon as he wraps on "Maleficent."
"Spike and Josh are keeping it very true to the original in terms of the grittiness, the darkness of it," said Copley of the film. "It's just one of those classic stories...I was just like, 'I have to do this movie, a script like this doesn't come along often!'"
As for the film's brutally dark subject matter (if the remake does indeed stay "true to the original," American audiences who've never seen the Korean version may be in for a rude awakening), Copley feels that unlike many movies today, the darkness actually serves a purpose.
Things we learned at the Sony ComicCon panel:
9. Sharlto Copley isn't a movie star yet
During the Q&A, Copley was asked what it was like to become a "full-fledged star," a tag the actor is clearly uncomfortable with. "Well, I don't know about the 'full-fledged stardom' thing, but certainly, my life is - I move around a lot," said Copley. "People say where do you live and I don't know right now. Right now I'm living in London trying to work out how to play Angelina Jolie's true love [in "Maleficient"] - I still can't believe that's happening. My friends from school are like, 'No way! You play nerds!' I'm like, 'Apparently not!'"
gregoryellwood
excerpt from last minute
