Having scored a hit with "Alice in Wonderland," Disney and screenwriter Linda Woolverton are teaming to bring to the big screen "Maleficent," a live-action take on the evil queen in the 1959 animated classic "Sleeping Beauty."
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No deal has been made with Burton, and the hiring of Woolverton is the first concrete step forward in its development.
In "Beauty," Maleficent is a tall green-skinned woman with horns who can morph into several forms, including a terrifying black and purple dragon. The character, who has appeared in many Disney books and TV shows and is a popular Halloween costume, is also the most serious character in Disney's villain stable, featuring a darkness not found in other Disney characters.
Woolverton's "Maleficent" movie would tell the classic fairy tale from the point of view of the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil," offering a new take on a classic tale as she did with Lewis Carrol's "Alice."
Looks like it just might happen...and I doubt that any of the horror will come from the earlier versions of the tale which are quite horrific in their own right with rape, cannibalism and child murder as just some of the scariest bits.
I really hope they let her be evil. This "famous story from the perspective of the villain who's really sympathetic and misunderstood" trend (see "Wicked") really needs to die. It's old. One of the things that makes Maleficent such a great character is how unapologetically evil she is. She likes being bad. I mean she curses an innocent baby to die because she wasn't invited to a party. If they go the "Wicked" route, I will be furious. Of course, after the recent disaster that was Alice I don't think it would surprise me.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've heard is that the weakest link of the new Alice movie was the writing. I really don't have any desire to have a live action film of this story told from the eyes of Maleficent especially if it is written by the Alice team.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erin, they'll probably make her less of herself.