Peter Capaldi plays King Kinloch of the fairies -- and Maleficent's uncle
An allegeddraft of the script was leaked online and there have been heated discussions about it on Maleficent's IMDb board -- mostly from fans with pre-conceived ideas of how they want the character to be portrayed -- i.e. irredeemably evil.
I've avoided reading the script because I want to go in fresh. Reading even an early draft of the script will inevitably spoil a large part of the enjoyment and discovery in watching the film. I occasionally read scripts when I am curious about a project still under deliberation but if its already in production, I'll wait until after I've seen it. I avoid watching too many trailers or featurettes for the same reason.
I am sure Disney doesn't want a copy of the script floating around so while a copy I obtained is available via the link, I am restricting access until after the film opens. Bearing in mind that this a) may not be authentic and b) is unlikely to be the shooting draft.
Peter Capaldi chats about working
with Angelina Jolie on Maleficent & Brad Pitt's latest movie World
War Z. More Maleficent interviews with Elle Fanning http://youtu.be/jllPZyqQKhQ & Juno
Elle Fanning chats about the green
screen worlds created in Maleficent, how they compare to Super 8 &
working with the elegantly scary Angelina Jolie as Maleficent. Watch
Maleficent
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 "real honesty and heart." He said it gives a "more honest portrayal of flawed human beings and relationships and why
they do the things they do." He added that Maleficent shows the "truth to what love is and the pain that love causes if your heart is broken. "
In related news, a few more actors have been added to Maleficent'scast, 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.
'District 9' actor also discusses the upcoming 'Oldboy' remake
By Chris Eggertsen Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 6:07 AM
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.
"I'm so excited about that film," Copley told me. "It's this fairy tale
movie, but it's got a real honesty and heart to it. It's almost like a
more advanced version of fairytales. I think almost as society
changes...[in] the old days [it] was very much, 'the prince and the
princess live happily ever after, and the wicked queen is the wicked
queen, and the good queen is the good queen.' But you know that real
life is more complicated than that!
"And so, what they're doing in this movie I think is doing a much
more honest portrayal of flawed human beings and relationships, and why
they do the things they do," he continued. "It's still a fairytale, but
it definitely is a more advanced and more truthful and more honest
telling. 'Maleficent' is darker in that sense, but also lighter in the
sense that it really is honest, there's a truth to it, there's a truth
to what love is, and the pain that love causes if your heart is broken,
or things like that. Which are generally not too covered in fairytales."
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.
"It is dark," he agreed, "but it's also 'clever dark.' You know,
there's dark just for the sake of being dark to shock you, [but] this
has actually got an intelligent dark twist. It actually makes sense.
...I don't really resonate much with just dark material, for the sake of
it."
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
@HitFixGregory Shalto - 'I'm trying to figure out how
to play Angelina Jolie's true love.' My friends at school are like 'You
play nerds!' 'Apparently not'
The Angelina Jolie-led action thriller Salt was a surprisingly big hit when it opened in the summer of 2010, holding its own against male-led action films like The Expendables and Prince of Persia
and reaffirming Jolie's importance as a female action star. And while a
sequel was put into development pretty quickly, it's been quiet ever
since then, with nothing but word that the sequel was in process and
Philip Noyce would not be returning to direct it.
Now Jolie herself may have put another obstacle in the film's way. Moviehole
reports that Jolie has turned down the recent script drafted by Kurt
Wimmer, and the writer is now reshaping it to hopefully come up with a
draft that makes the actress happy. Jolie has seemed committed to the
film in the past-- and it's her vehicle, so she can shape it however she
likes-- but the longer they wait to put something together, the less
likely it may become that the movie happens. Jolie is plenty in demand,
of course, and she's getting ready
to play the Disney villainess Maleficent, with plenty of other projects
also on the docket. Is she always going to be able to make time for Salt 2?
I enjoyed the original movie a lot, as a kind of breath-of-fresh-air
alternative to the superhero movies and franchises that generally
dominate the summer, and I've been holding out hope that the sequel
would come together. But the longer they wait, the less likely it seems.
If you're also hoping the movie happens, cross your fingers that a
better draft makes its way to Jolie soon.
Angelina Jolie has turned down “Salt 2″ – well, the
current incarnation of it. Jolie’s just finished reading Kurt Wimmer’s
script for a potential sequel to her 2010 hit but didn’t go for it; as a
result, the leg-flashing Oscar Winner refused to sign off on it.
Columbia Pictures have had Wimmer go back to the drawing board to see if
he can come up with something that’ll work for Jolie.
Angelina Jolie is hardly prolific when it comes to
churning out movies of late, and even less prolific when it comes to
churning out good ones. When she does appear in movies she does so as
one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and as a result she's likely one
of the most in-demand actresses around which suggests she must be very
selective. But that just makes it all the more confusing when she picks
some of the projects she does. Aside from voicing a tiger in the two "Kung Fu Panda" movies, the past five years has seen Jolie make six movies. Two were quite good ("A Mighty Heart," "Changeling"), two were not ("Beowulf," "The Tourist") and two were disappointing action movies ("Wanted," "Salt").
The latter, "Salt," made nearly $300 million worldwide and so Columbia Picturesre-hiredKurt Wimmer
(who also penned the first film) to begin work on a script for a
sequel. Well, Wimmer wrote it, the studio sent it to Angelina for
approval, and according to Moviehole,
she wasn't pleased and refused to sign off on it. Oh dear, so what
happens now? Well Columbia have asked Wimmer to start over and try to
see whether he can come up with something this time that Evelyn Salt
will approve of. It all begs the question of whether Angelina ever read
the script for the first movie. If she did, then how low are her
standards? And how bad is this new script if it doesn't meet said
standards?
Of course, Columbia could always recast the role, or rewrite the sequel
with a new character involved (a la Bourne), but then they'd have a
hard time attracting anyone with anywhere near as much star power, or
who could match Jolie in the female-action department (give Jolie her
due, she kicks ass well) at the same time. The fact of the matter is
that this is only a franchise with Jolie involved, and she's the one and
only reason the first film made that kind of money in the first place,
so they better hope they can produce a decent script soon. Our advice:
hire a different writer. If not then we've probably got more chance of
seeing the blaxploitation spin-off, "Pepper," before "Salt 2" makes its way to theatres.
U.S. actress Angelina Jolie, left, and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo attend a press workshop of the ICC in Berlin Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
By The Associated Press
BERLIN
- Angelina Jolie says she's not yet sure whether she will follow her
directorial debut on the Bosnian war with another film on such serious
material — but she has already written a script focusing on the conflict
in Afghanistan.
Jolie, who presented her movie "In the Land of
Blood and Honey" at the Berlin International Film Festival, told
reporters Monday that even her husband Brad Pitt is unfamiliar with her
Afghanistan idea.
She says: "I did write something on Afghanistan.
Nobody's seen it yet. Brad hasn't seen it. It's hidden. So I don't know
how very good it is, but it's been a pleasure to write."
Meantime,
she says her next project is playing the villain in a Disney film —
something she says her kids are much happier about.
