Maleficent (film)

Maleficent is a 2014 American fantasy thriller film directed by Robert Stromberg and starring Angelina Jolie as the title character. The story focuses on the Sleeping Beauty story, but from the perspective of the villainous Maleficent. It began filming on June 18, 2012, and was released on May 30, 2014 in 3D. It was produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg, from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton. The song for the film is "Once Upon a Dream", which is performed by Lana Del Rey.

Plot
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there were two kingdoms. One was ruled by the ruthless King Henry, while the other - known as the Moors - was home to magical creatures, such as fairies. The most powerful fairy of all was named Maleficent.

One day, the Moors was disturbed by the presence of a young peasant boy named Stefan, who had escaped there after stealing a precious gem from the human kingdom. As the Tree Warriors cornered him, Maleficent showed up and told him to hand over the stolen gem, which he reluctantly does. After tossing it into the water, she escorted Stefan to the borders of the Moors. They admit to each other that they are both orphans, and meeting each other is forbidden to both their worlds.

However, the two of them eventually become the best of friends, and on Maleficent's sixteenth birthday, Stefan showed her true love's kiss.

Over the next couple of years, Stefan stopped visiting the Moors for some reason, and due to the threatening attacks on Moors by King Henry, Maleficent becomes her homeland's sworn protector. With the forest army by her side, she engaged the King's army in battle, defeating them and wounding the King. On his deathbed, the King demanded to be avenged. He promises that whoever kills Maleficent shall become the new king and marry his beautiful daughter Leila.

It is revealed that Stefan has become one of the king’s servants and, wanting to claim the throne, he journeys to the Moors to find Maleficent. The two are reunited and spend the night together like they used too. Stefan tricks her into taking a drink that puts her to sleep and after she falls into her slumber, Stefan makes the attempt to kill. However, he hesitates and cannot bring himself to do it. So instead, he cuts off her wings and presents them to the dying king, leaving Maleficent in agony. After creating a staff to help her walk, she journey’s to an abandoned castle where she hides in the shadows, broken and alone.

One day, she comes across a farmer who has captured a raven. Taking pity on the small bird, she turns the raven into a man. After the farmer runs away in fear, Maleficent approaches the human bird, who introduces himself as Diaval. Since she saved him, he offers to be her humble servant and Maleficent gives him his first task: to find Stefan. Diaval flies to the castle and witnesses Stefan being crowned king. When he informs Maleficent of what he has learnt, she becomes enraged. She returns to the Moors as dark clouds loom across the forest, then, after roots form a throne, Maleficent sits there as the new Evil Queen of the Moors.

One day, Queen Leila gives birth to a daughter, and she is named Aurora after the dawning of the sun. A royal christening takes at the castle. Three pixies - Knotgrass, Thistlewit and Flittle - bless the infant princess with magical gifts. Then, just before Flittle could present her gift, Maleficent shows up. Still disgusted by what Stefan did to her and a little distress at not receiving an invitation, she curses the princess to fall into a sleep-like death by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday. However, when Stefan begs her to spare his daughter's life, Maleficent also includes that the curse can be lifted by true love’s kiss. No power on earth can change it.

Stefan has every spinning wheel in the kingdom burned and locked away in the deepest dungeon. He also has the three pixies take Aurora into hiding. They take her to an old cottage and pose as her three human aunts.

As the years pass, Maleficent watches over the young princess and Despite her initial hate for the little “Beastie”, she reluctantly takes care of her from afar when the Pixies are incapable and struggling to live like humans. In the meantime, Stefan becomes extremely paranoid and obsessed in hunting Maleficent down. Queen Leila becomes gravely ill and dies, but Stefan shows no grief over her death.

By the time Aurora turns fifteen, she finally comes in contact with Maleficent, believing she is her fairy godmother as she recalled being watched over by her all her life. Maleficent allows Aurora to spend more time in the Moors with her and the other fairies and two eventually develop a mother and daughter like relationship. After returning her home and putting her to bed, Maleficent tries to remove the curse from her, but she is unable to since no power on earth can lift it but true love’s kiss.

On the day before Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, Aurora has decided to stay in the Moors with Maleficent, which she happily accepts. As Aurora returns home, she meets Prince Phillip and it instantly becomes love at first sight. Diaval sees him as the key to lift the curse, but Maleficent disagrees as there is no such thing as true love. However, after the pixies reveal the truth to Aurora, she sadly returns to her father after Maleficent admits the truth of her identity. Feeling ashamed, she decides to take the chance that true love will be her only hope and goes looking for Phillip.

Even though he is happy to see his daughter after nearly sixteen years, Stefan is still furious at the pixies because they were supposed to bring her back after her sixteenth birthday. He has her locked up and prepares for Maleficent to arrive.

As the sun begins to set, the curse begins to call Aurora. She follows a whispering voice to the dungeon where all the spinning wheels in the kingdom were burnt, while Maleficent hurries to the castle with Phillip in a trance. However, her attempts to reach her are all in vain; Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into her death-like slumber.

As night draws, Maleficent and Diaval sneak inside the castle with Phillip and bring him to the sleeping Aurora. Hiding in the shadows, she watches as Phillip approaches her and leans over to kiss her. Unfortunately, nothing happens and Aurora remains asleep. After the Pixies drag Phillip out to find someone else to kiss her, Maleficent comes out of hiding and looks upon what she has done. She was lost in hatred and revenge that she forgot about love and happiness until she met Aurora. In tears, she kisses Aurora on the forehead and bids her goodbye, but before she can even leave a miracle happens: Aurora wakes up happy to see her fairy godmother. Maleficent's motherly love for Aurora was enough to break the curse.

As the three of them attempt to flee the castle, Maleficent is captured by Stefan’s men. Aurora tries to save her, but the castle guards overpower her and Diaval. Maleficent turns him into a dragon and he manages to fight off the guards. Aurora flees as Maleficent and Diaval fight the guards, but they are pinned down as Stefan enters the scene. He takes his time killing her by brutally torturing her. Then, after pulling out his sword, he prepares to finish her off, but just before he can impale her, Maleficent’s wings return to her after Aurora frees them. With her wings back, she is able to fly and free Diaval. Maleficent and Diaval easily take down Stefan’s guards. Only the treacherous king is left standing. She easily overpowers him and just as she is on the verge of killing him, she spares him, claiming: “It’s all over.” However, Stefan refuses defeat and jumps on her. The two fall from a tower, but Maleficent manages to become airborne, leaving Stefan to fall to his death.

With peace finally made between the two lands, Maleficent passes her crown to Aurora, making her Queen of both the human and fairy kingdoms, forever unifying them, as Phillip looks on. The story ends with Maleficent happily flying through the skies with Diaval by her side.

Cast

 * Angelina Jolie as Maleficent
 * Ella Purnell as Teenage Maleficent
 * Isobelle Molloy as Young Maleficent
 * Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora
 * Vivienne Jolie-Pitt as Aurora (5 yrs.)
 * Eleanor Worthington Cox as Aurora (8 yrs.)
 * Janet McTeer as the elderly Aurora (a.k.a. the Narrator)
 * Sharlto Copley as King Stefan
 * Jackson Bews as Teenage Stefan
 * Michael Higgins as Young Stefan
 * Sam Riley as Diaval
 * Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip
 * Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass
 * Juno Temple as Thistlewit
 * Lesley Manville as Flittle
 * Kenneth Cranham as King Henry
 * Hannah New as Queen Leila

Production
On May 12, 2009, it was revealed that Brad Bird was developing a live-action film based on Sleeping Beauty, retold from the point of view of Maleficent with Angelina Jolie starring as Maleficent. In January 2010, it was rumored that Tim Burton was to direct the film. Reports surfaced online in May 2011 stating that Burton had left the project to focus on his other upcoming projects; Disney began to look for a replacement director, with David Yates being cited as a potential candidate due to his experience with the fantasy genre, having directed the final four Harry Potter films. Linda Woolverton, who previously collaborated with Tim Burton on Alice in Wonderland, is writing the script for the movie. Angelina Jolie said in an interview that she is definitely interested in the role. Don Hahn, a producer of the movie, confirmed that Disney is developing a film about Maleficent and that it is in active development. On January 6, 2012, Disney announced that Robert Stromberg, the production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, will direct the film.

Sharlto Copley (District 9) was recently named as the male lead for Stromberg's live action retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale. Heat Vision also reports that Imelda Staunton and Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter) have been cast for the film, along with Kenneth Cranham (Hot Fuzz), Sam Riley (Control), and Lesley Manville (Another Year).

According to the Hollywood Reporter's blog article, Staunton and Manville will be playing the characters of Knotgrass and Flittle, respectively, "two of the three pixies that end up taking care of Aurora." Meanwhile Super 8 starlet Elle Fanning has long been rumored as the choice to play the aforementioned Princess, and Heat Vision's report confirms her name as officially being onboard the project. In the role of Queen Ulla, Richardson will be acting as "a Fairy Queen who is Maleficent’s aunt with a dislike of her niece." Meanwhile Cranham will play the human king who plots to conquer the fairy kingdom, and Riley will portray Diaval, "a raven who changes into human form and is Maleficent’s right hand." The source also mentions Copley’s gig in the lead of King Stefan, describing his role as "the half-human, half-fairy bastard son of the human king." On May 31, 2012, Deadline.com reports that Home and Away star Brenton Thwaites has been cast to the role of the charming Prince Phillip.

With a budget estimated at $180 million, filming began on June 18, 2012 in London with the first pictures from set emerging and the first official look of Jolie as Maleficent. Seven-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker designed the special makeup effects for the film. Post-production began on October 5, 2012.

The film's official's date is set for July 2, 2014, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Filming is reportedly taking place in the Buckinghamshire countryside. On September 18, 2013, the film's release date was pushed up from July 2 to May 30.

On October 10, 2013, John Lee Hancock (director of The Blind Side and Saving Mr. Banks and writer of Snow White and the Huntsman) will help Stromberg with the re-shoots for the film. Joe Roth said that "the film is not in trouble. The last half is great and it looks real pretty and stuff, it's just that the beginning needs some tweaking. That's all." Hancock, who just finished overseeing the final post-production stages of Saving Mr. Banks, was approached by Roth, who the both of them had previously worked together on Snow White and the Huntsman. "We asked him to be on set," producer Joe Roth said of Hancock. "He's not directing. He wrote pages, and I hired a first-time director, and it's good to have him on set." Roth was asked why a "film of this magnitude was entrusted to a novice director", and he noted that Stromberg won Oscars for production design on Alice in Wonderland and Avatar. "The movie is gorgeous to look at, and the last 75 minutes (1hr 25min) are really entertaining," he says. The issue is the opening, which is being reshot over eight days." The new scenes do not involve Jolie, as she was in Australia prepping to direct her World War II drama Unbroken.

Trivia

 * Jude Law was considered to play King Stefan before Sharlto Copley was cast.
 * Emma Thompson and Judi Dench were considered for the roles of the fairies.
 * Logan Marshall-Green, George Blagden, Gael García Bernal and Jim Sturgess were considered for the role, that eventually went to Sam Riley.
 * It is revealed that Maleficent used to have wings until they were stolen from her in a ruthless betrayal.
 * Angelina Jolie's daughter Vivienne Jolie-Pitt was chosen to play the younger Aurora because she was the only child that wasn't afraid of her own mother in costume since other kids in casting would run away in fear of Angelina's appearance.
 * According to DigitalSpy website, Angelina Jolie's adopted children Pax and Zahra will also make appearances in the movie as well.
 * The-examples-of-Disney-movies-DVDs-with-villains-covers.jpg promotion, Walt Disney Home Entertainment has turned to the dark side in introducing Disney Villains a limited edition collections of Disney classics to selected UK stores nationwide on 2 June. This limited collection will include 24 of Disney's most classic and magical tales, each with their own unique artwork and premium metallic sleeve.
 * The 24 re-release Disney films with villains covers are: The Jungle Book; Cinderella; The Little Mermaid; Peter Pan; One Hundred and One Dalmatians; Aladdin; Mulan; Wreck-It Ralph; Pinocchio; Tangled; Alice in Wonderland; The Princess and the Frog; Lady and the Tramp; Pocahontas; Fantasia; The Emperor's New Groove; Hercules; Robin Hood; The Black Cauldron; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Great Mouse Detective; Enchanted; Oz the Great and Powerful; and the live-action adaptation of 101 Dalmatians.
 * Maleficent is almost similar to Frozen because both have a twist of true love (in which both cases are not romantic types of love) and have seemingly villain heroine. Also, both have one betrayal of whom they thought were their "True Love" however it contains a dark plot very similar to Return to Oz.