Wednesday, April 3, 2019

CinemaCon


On the complete opposite end of the spectrum was a sizzle reel that mixed behind the scenes footage, interviews and cut scenes from “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Disney just recently moved the sequel to the 2014 blockbuster “Maleficent” from a 2020 opening to this upcoming October (a very rare move for Disney).  The studio must have seen a window on the release schedule and thought the movie was good enough to make a mark.  Judging from the footage screened, it might turn out to be a very savvy move.
According to Maleficent herself, Angelina Jolie, the new film finds the horned fairy keeping watch over an almost completely grown Aurora (Elle Fanning, barely aged).  When Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson, unrecognizable) asks her to be his Queen, it introduces Aurora and Maleficent to another royal family with an agenda of its own.  That family is seemingly run by Phillip’s mother, Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer, chewing the scenery beautifully) and Maleficent soon realizes she doesn’t have Aurora’s best interests in mind.
Granted, the effects were not finished (one shot saw Jolie land with wires), some scenes were not color timed and others were captured by the EPK crew, but there was an energy on display that made what was shown look devilishly fun. Disney isn’t hiding at all that this movie is basically a Jolie versus Pfeiffer showdown and thank god they aren’t. When Pfeiffer picks up a long bow, cocks an evil smile and points it like a pro it’s hard not to succumb to the potential of genuine campy fun. Something that seems strangely missing from what we’ve seen of “Aladdin” or the aforementioned “Dumbo.”


The footage unveiled of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, due in theaters Oct. 18, revealed that Maleficent and Aurora’s relationship will be tested when Prince Phillip asks for Aurora’s hand in marriage and brings her to meet his mother, Queen Ingrith (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), a character that will cause a rift between Maleficent and Aurora. “The queen is a smart woman, which makes her formidable, and that’s fun,” Jolie said in a video clip shown between scenes from the film, which were not released publicly.
“Aurora and Maleficent love each other so much, but there is a huge divide between them,” Fanning added in the video. “Maleficent is still a little wary of the humans, and Aurora is dealing with a burden of coming into a new life to be this cookie-cutter royal, which is not what Aurora is.”
Jolie teased that the film “will give audiences not just the characters they know but also a new, surprising world.”







A behind the scenes look at the feature changed that, however, with both returning stars and brand new cast member Michelle Pfeiffer showing off what appears to be an epic battle that will pit Jolie’s complicated fairy against a brand new adversary: Pfeiffer as a queen determined to make Fanning’s Princess Aurora her own.
The film picks up some years after the first, and the footage opened with Pfeiffer’s Queen Ingrith providing voiceover narration to look back at the original 2014 hit, reminding viewers of Maleficent’s original nefarious plan, a twist on the old Sleeping Beauty mythos. Even via flashback montage, it’s clear that Ingrith has no love lost for Maleficent.
Via a behind the scenes interview, Jolie explained the central question of the film: “In this film, we pose the question: is Maleficent good enough to be Aurora’s mother?” When Prince Phillip (now played by Harris Dickinson) asks Aurora to marry him, it thrusts her (and Maleficent) back into a royal world they had long since escaped, one ruled over by Phillip’s fearsome mother, Queen Ingrith.
“Aurora and Maleficent love each other so much,” Fanning explained in her own behind the scenes interview. “But there is a divide between them. Maleficent is still a little wary of the humans, and Aurora is dealing with the burden of coming into this new life to be this cookie-cutter royal, which is not what Aurora is.”
The inciting incident, at least as far as the footage showed, is Ingrith being so bold as to tell Maleficent that she will give Aurora the “love of a real family” and that she “considers Aurora my own.” Maleficent explodes in rage — a fearsome scene that seems to set the stage for more battles to come — and it suddenly appears that the film will build to a major battle between the pair.
“The queen is a smart woman, which makes her formidable,” Pfeiffer said. But don’t count out Maleficent, who then appears to be calling into action her own people, including Chiwetel Ejiofor as a brand new fairy called into action for a battle of wills.







The footage was a behind-the-scenes featurette that first recaps the classic Sleeping Beauty story before pivoting to what this sequel is actually about: is the misunderstood Maleficent good enough to be an adoptive mother to Aurora?
Prince Phillip soon enters the picture, inviting both women to the castle, where they meet Queen Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Marriage is proposed and drama ensues! Maleficent and Aurora love each other, but they’re divided on whether or not this proposal is a good thing. The footage even includes a moment where Maleficent finds out about the marriage and gets furious. And maybe she has a point – while Queen Ingrid says that marriage is a beautiful thing and wants to unite everyone, she seems to have other plans in mind.
The footage also included shots of a dark and thorny forest, Aurora struggling to be a “cookie cutter royal,” and Ingrid trying to be a mother figure to Aurora, which really gets under Maleficent’s skin.







We hear Queen Ingrith in the background talking and asks Maleficent if King Stefan “died or was killed?” to which she replies, “both”. In this movie, Aurora gets engaged to Phillip and that is what kicks off the plot Maleficent doesn’t trust humans that much and is a mother figure to Aurora. Now we have Queen Ingrith played by Michelle Pfeiffer who knows just which of Maleficent’s buttons to push.
Aurora, meanwhile, is straining against the idea of having to act like a regular royal. Jolie poses the question in her interview: “In this film, we pose the question: is Maleficent good enough to be Aurora’s mother?” The inciting incident appears to be when Ingrith says to Maleficent’s face that she wants to give Aurora a “real family” and “make her one of my own”. Maleficent explodes with power and things are likely going to go downhill from there. We should see more from this movie sooner rather than later. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will be released on October 18th.



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