Elle

From Inquirer.net

Only In Hollywood

Fanning on Jolie as ‘Maleficent,’

By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer

LOS ANGELES—“I remember meeting Angelina Jolie for the first time at Pinewood Studios,” Elle Fanning said about her famous “Maleficent” costar during our interview.
Dakota Fanning’s sister plays Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty in Disney’s retelling of the classic fairy tale. This time, it’s from the perspective of Jolie’s Maleficent—how events harden her heart and drive her to curse the baby, Aurora.

“We were doing rehearsals for ‘Maleficent,’” continued Elle, who is 13 and acts her age, refreshing for a young Hollywood actress. She is giggly and exuberant. Dressed simply in blouse and pants, sans make-up, Elle had come straight from school where, she said, she had just taken a biology honors class test on cellular respiration. “I turned a corner and there Angelina was. I wasn’t expecting to see her that day. She gave me a big hug and said, ‘We’re going to have so much fun working together.’ I was like, freaking out. She’s touching me. I thought, this is crazy.”

Elle added about working with Angelina in the directorial debut of Robert Stromberg, Oscar-winning art director of “Avatar” and “Alice in Wonderland”: “As we started shooting, we got really close. I loved working with her and watching her. I felt  that I was trying to sort of mirror her in a way. When I was off (the set), I was like, how was she standing? I’m going to stand like that, too. She was just incredible. She’s so motherly. All her kids were on the set.”

In fact, three of the Jolie-Pitt children (Vivienne, Zahara and Pax) have small parts in the fantasy film to be shown next year. “Vivienne got to play me as the younger Sleeping Beauty in the movie,” Elle said. “She looked so good in the costume. It was great.”

On Angelina as the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil, Elle said: “She was very elegant. She had the neatest costume. The costume had horns. She looked so good. And her character definitely has evil moments. But you get to see how the character became who she is, why she is so mean. You get to see the backstory of Maleficent’s life. The film is seen through her eyes.”

Dream fulfilled
Elle’s role is a dream fulfilled. She recalled: “When I was little, people asked me, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I said, ‘A Disney Princess.’ And I actually got to be one. I got to be Aurora with the outfits and the long hair. I got to experience that princess lifestyle through the movie. It was really fun. The whole experience was definitely very magical.”

Elle got good reviews for her performance as a 1960s London teenager in “Ginger & Rosa.”