Angelina Jolie commits to playing an evil queen in Maleficent

MALEFICENT, Disney’s revisionist redo of Sleeping Beauty, has been in the works for a while. Tim Burton was long involved in its development, but has since dropped out to do whatever it is he does and been replaced by Robert Stromberg.  Jolie meanwhile, also long-involved, recently announced at the Berlin International Film Festival that she intends it to be her next movie.  And while she didn’t officially say the name MALEFICENT, it’s the only Disney project she has been formally connected with on a consistent basis.  “I haven’t acted in two years, and I haven’t done anything else since this [Land of Blood and Honey]. The next thing I am looking at is a Disney movie.”  Jolie went on to say that her children very much want her to play the part, going so far as to call her “mom-elicent.” 

On a sad note, by Jolie committing to this project it means that her possible collaboration with Luc Besson is back in limbo at the least and dead at the most.  I can’t say if the same is true for her proposed collaboration with Ridley Scott, but seeing as how Scott is snapping up projects right and left I’d say that it’s looking less and less likely as well.

My main concern with all of this is that the script is by Linda Woolverton.  She wrote ALICE IN WONDERLAND, a movie where this scene is not even the worst part.  I’m not sure who exactly to blame most for the atrociousness of that movie, but even the screenwriter can’t be wholly innocent.  Seeing as how MALEFICENT intends to shoot at the end of this year/beginning of next year though, I doubt we’ll know the script’s quality for a while.  Until then, on to other things, right? Other things like this: