Angelia Jolie and Elle Fanning Talk Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Well known worldwide now as winged and horned fairy Maleficent and beautiful Sleeping Beauty princess Aurora, Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning reprise their roles in the bigger and darker sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil just in time for Halloween.

In the movie, powerful new queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) causes disagreement between Maleficent and her “daughter” Princess Aurora who is now grown and ready to marry, a fact that doesn’t please Maleficent. The dark fairy and beautiful princess must reunite, gather new allies and face enemies in order to protect their shared magical lands.

Talking with reporters recently, Angelina and Elle revealed feelings about the changes in their characters and how they personally relate to themes in the film. Oh, and they talk cool costumes as well!

Behind-the-Scenes Featurette with Angelina Jolie

 

Q: Elle, talk about returning to the role of Aurora for this film.

• Elle: Little girls were coming up to me and saying ‘Oh, you’re Aurora. You’re Sleeping Beauty’. I’d never had that happen to me before so to be able to tell them there’s a second (film) coming out and you get to see her again in a new story and a new chapter of their lives (was great). You get to see more of the mystical worlds and the creatures. That really drew me in and I was also excited to pick up Aurora when she was older, a young woman.

Q: Was it great to work with Angelina again?

• Elle: Yes. It was great to see her again and we had a lot of fun in London. We went paintballing together. We went bowling together. There were a lot of different outings and we got to spend a lot of time. Really, we got very, very close on this film.

Q: It’s hard to picture Maleficent and Aurora bowling! Let’s talk about that gorgeous wedding dress.

• Elle: The wedding dress was just impeccable. It was outstanding. I never wanted to take it off. I think I shot maybe three days in that dress. There were just tons of flowers on the train and on my sleeves and that ran up the dress. A lot of those were like laser-cut feathers and flowers on top of each other. It was tons of fabric. I couldn’t walk or go anywhere without someone holding it up for me. In between takes I had to go stand in a horse box (like a tiny horse trailer). I would just be standing in my giant dress in the horse box alone. But I was happy because I had it on.

Q: Any memories of the wedding?

• Elle: I remember walking down the aisle that first time with Angelina walking me down in her black velvet, in her true Maleficent form. I’d never walked down an aisle before so it was a very special moment. We had music playing and the Dark Fey were there and the townspeople and Moorfolk. It really felt like a true wedding and I remember that moment was very special for Angelina and me.

Q: Angelina, some of your costumes look…well, dangerous! One looked like it might poke you…

• Angelia: I did actually poke myself often with the one from the dinner party scene because the horns would flip up. It was terribly hard. But it’s all fun. You get so supported in these roles with the magic. Everybody is working toward this idea of helping with the costumes and the visual effects and the makeup to help bring you into a creature. It’s a big team and so the costumes are certainly part of it. Some of my costumes were half there and we had to be flying in with rigs and things. The trick sometimes it that I need to look stronger when I’m on the ground but then (the costume) has to float when I’m up in the air so that’s fun.

Q: Both of you, what thing did you take or would you like to take from the set of the film?

• Angelina: I kept my staff. I keep it in my children’s rooms.
• Elle: I would have kept the spindle. It’s this very classic Sleeping Beauty décor.

Q: So true. Elle, in the first movie, your character is blessed with happiness and, in this movie she runs into a lot of dark situations. Do you think her bright personality traits effect how you play the character?

• Elle: Yes. Obviously, in the original fairy tale she is granted these gifts when she’s a baby and I think Aurora symbolizes the good and the kindness in the world and the acceptance. That was really shown in the first film because she is younger and much more innocent but still introduced to some dark things but this does carry over to the second film. She embodies this overwhelming love of life and she lives between both worlds. She is a human but she is queen of the Moors and has grown up among Moorfolk so she lives harmoniously with both sides. She doesn’t understand why the world can’t do that.

Q: What is your favorite change you see in Aurora in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil?

• Elle: In the second film what’s so great is that she’s definitely a young woman now and she’s grown up. She is stronger. She has much more conviction in herself and she’s learning how to gain her independence. I love the family theme in the movie because it’s very realistic to real life; growing up, separating, leaving the nest and making your own choices in life. (Maleficent) is disapproving of (Aurora’s love) Prince Phillip but we know that love wins and Aurora stands up to Maleficent which is such a very strong moment in the film.

• It might be shocking for fans to see that because Aurora is taking charge of her own life but with kindness which is the most powerful of all. We didn’t want Aurora to be put in armor and have a sword and she’s fighting and that makes her strong. That’s not Aurora’s true nature and that isn’t necessarily true. I was always soft and wanted to be a mom and to get married and very feminine and there is nothing wrong with that. We get to show the strength in accepting your femininity and Aurora does it in a pink dress. Very bad ass.

Q: For sure! Angelina what does this movie say about family to you?

• Angelina: It’s about acceptance and it’s about family. Aurora and Maleficent were first brought together and became a family. They weren’t expecting it. Maleficent was harmed in her life and she’d lost herself and I think lost her ability to be soft and be loved. The love of a child, certainly in my life, being a mother brought out something in me that completely transformed me. But we are different creatures in the film.

Q: What is an important message in the movie?

• Angelina: I always think that a good film for young people has these messages. I think there’s a real question in the film. We get pulled apart and people tell us it’s because you’re not the same. You’re not family. Because you are not exactly like her, you’re not family. That certainly strikes a chord with me. I think Maleficent questions whether she’s good enough to be a mother and whether she is (Aurora’s) mother. So, in the middle of this film we go on different journeys and Aurora finds herself having this idea ‘Well, I’m like this. I was born this way so that must be my true nature’. And, I (Maleficent) think ‘Well, I’m a creature. I’m like this so that must be my true nature’.

• In the middle of the film everybody’s focusing on their differences on how different we are and we go to our own corners and our separate backgrounds or ways of being or who we are and how we’re born and then there is a real push to say this is not how it should be. This is not how to live and diversity makes us stronger and there must be a better way forward and we have to come together. And we do that in the film with the humans and the creatures and the Moorfolk coming together. We come together and fight against this separation and unite and say this is the world we choose to live in. I think that’s a really important message.

Q: It certainly is. There is a beauty in truly understanding how others see you as well.

• Elle: And to be your true self as well. To say this is who we are. We are the pretty, pink, beautiful, soft princess and we are the slightly manic creature that maybe has a very bad temper and many, many, other things and yet I see Maleficent exactly as she is and I don’t want her to be any different than she is and she sees and accepts me as I am. So, it is to say to everybody ‘Be your true self. We don’t live forever’. Say to children ‘No matter what people see, how they see you, how they say you should be, you’ll suffocate (if you don’t) be your true nature whatever that may be and you will find a home for it. You will find acceptance’.

Q: Great message. Angelina, talk about the importance of self-sacrifice in the film.

• Angelina: I think when we talk about love, there is being your true self but really, the core of it is we’re not here just to exist. You have to know what you stand for. You have to know what you will fight and die for. If you live that way then whatever pain and sacrifice comes from it you embrace it and it fills you with purpose. I think that’s well represented in the film.

Q: Angelina, are you anything like Maleficent? She’s not just evil.

• Angelina: When you’re not an actor you are always trying to figure out who you are, how people see you. You don’t know as much. Maybe now, with social media everybody knows everybody’s opinion. But, as an actor, it’s strange, you put yourself forward and everybody says ‘Well that’s very you’ and you think ‘Really? Is it’? When I got a call and they said, ‘We thought you were the only person who could play Maleficent. It was so obvious’. You think ‘I’m really not sure how I’m supposed to take that’ and yet I love her.

• Maybe I just need to fully embrace it at this time in my life. Years ago when we first did it I thought well, I need to find the other aspects of her. It’s obviously not just completely a bit wild and full on and a bit much and fun. Now, I’ve been through different things in my life and I was so happy to feel strong again and to have some fun and I adore being her. There is something about her that I’m very proud that I’m associated with.

Q: Aurora struggles with leaving home and your teen son Maddox went off to college recently. Did this role help prepare you for dealing with that in real life?

• Angelina: To be very honest Maddox was so ready and he’s doing so well. I thought I was preparing him to go and I was being sure he had the right shoes, the right jacket, the right glasses. You get the right everything and you work so hard as a mother and you think ‘I’m really helping him’. Then, at the airport, he stayed with me a little bit longer and I thought ‘He wants to be with me a little longer’ and then I realized, at some point he looked at me and said ‘Are you okay?’ I said ‘Yeah I’m fine’ and I realized the entire week was all for me.
• He was just making sure I was okay and he gave me a really big hug because he knew I needed it and I knew he was okay because he was the kind of man who knew what I needed and he gave it to me in a loving way. I left feeling really proud but I did cry a few times. There is a part of this movie where I have to let Aurora go a little bit and it wasn’t in the script and I didn’t quite let her go and Diaval has to come in and say ‘Let her go’.  That got me every time because I was thinking of all of the kids and that moment that you really have to let them go. That’s also exciting.

See Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in theaters October 18^th

Let’s Hear From You!

Are you a fan of the Maleficent and Aurora characters? Are you really up for seeing this new film? What do you like or dislike about each character? Would you want to wear a Maleficent or Aurora costume for Halloween? Let everyone know with a comment!!

 

By: Lynn Barker