Today, The Walt Disney Studios announced that production has begun on the highly anticipated live action film Maleficant, starring Academy Award©-winning actress Angelina Jolie.
The film will tell the backstory of Sleeping Beauty’s villain, and explains what led to her bitterness and her reasons for ill will toward the Princess Aurora, which culminates in her placing a curse on the infant child.
Directed by Robert Stromberg, who is a two-time Oscar© Winner in the area of production design (Avatar and Alice in Wonderland), the screenplay is written by Disney veteran Linda Woolverton, …

Maleficent, Disney’s live-action adaptation of Sleeping Beauty has added another member to the cast – actress Juno Temple.
Temple will join Imelda Staunton and Lesley Manville as one of the three fairies tasked with caring for Aurora in her cottage deep in the forest. She will play the fairy Thistlewit, who is superficial and neglectful much like the other fairies.
The actress joins a star-studded cast which includes Angelina Jolie in the title role; Elle Fanning as Aurora and Sharlto Copley as Stefan, the half-human and half-fairy son of the human king. …