Maleficent Roundtables: The Cast On the New Film!
The cast of Maleficent took part in a press roundtable event at the Four Seasons Hotel to chat about the film, which hit theaters last week.
Stars Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley and Sam Riley and director Robert Stromberg were in attendance to answer questions. Angelina Jolie, who plays the film's titular character, also took time to speak about the film at a junket.
Jolie spoke in depth about the importance of totally embodying the role of Maleficent for the film.
"I think that was part of the thing with this role, is you realize that there's no halfway, that if you're gonna do it, you can't kind of do it," Jolie said. "You're gonna have to just to fully get into it and enjoy it."
She added that the most intimidating part was measuring up to the perfection of the original Maleficent.
"I just was so worried I'd fail the original," she said.
She also spoke about her own daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, starring as a young Aurora in the film, because other young girls who came on set would be too afraid of Jolie in her Maleficent costume.
She also discussed how being a mother encouraged her to take on the role.
16-year-old actress Elle Fanning plays Princess Aurora, AKA Sleeping Beauty, opposite Jolie. She admitted she was intimidated by the veteran actress.
"I was extremely nervous to meet her," Fanning said. "I mean you hear that name and it's like the most famous ever."
But as nervous as she was to meet Jolie, it ended up being a really positive experience.
"We're both like big huggers, so she gave me a giant hug like right away, and she shook my shoulders and she said, 'We're gonna have so much fun working together.'"
She also spoke about Maleficent as a girl power film, with two strong female leads sharing the screen,
"When I started filming and I was such a huge fan of the animated one and I'm like, 'Oh, I feel like we're breaking some weird Disney rule,' like Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty aren't supposed to talk to each other, they're enemies,'" Fanning explained. "But the way it turned out, it's like … a fresh take on it and I think for, you know, the modern world we need to have like a modern story and it is."
Click here to check out our red carpet coverage of Maleficent from SweetyHigh.com here and comment below if you've already seen the movie to let us know what you thought!