Angelina Jolie takes evil to new places in 'Maleficent'

CULTURE / Film

‘Sleeping Beauty’ told from the villain’s view

Angelina Jolie takes evil to new places in ‘Maleficent’

Fairy's tale: Angelina Jolie plays the title character in 'Maleficent,' which tells the story of 'Sleeping Beauty' from the villain's point of view. | ?2014 DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.

By George Hadley-Garcia
Special To The Japan Times

Jul 10, 2014

HOLLYWOOD – Websites such as Buzzfeed have made an art of the “listicle,” a news article that comprises a top 10 on a designated topic. Thanks to childhood nostalgia, Walt Disney characters often make their way onto such listicles, and a quick look at the Top 10 Disney villains of all time often ends with one woman in the top spot — Maleficent, the green-skinned lady dressed in black who curses Princess Aurora in the 1959 Walt Disney film “Sleeping Beauty.”

Another woman who often ends up at the top of listicles is Angelina Jolie. The 39-year-old takes the No. 1 spot in everything from “most beautiful” to “most bankable” actress or, with her partner Brad Pitt, one half of Hollywood’s “most powerful couple.”

Jolie hasn’t appeared in a film since 2010, when she starred in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “The Tourist,” with Johnny Depp, and took the title role in Phillip Noyce’s action-hero vehicle “Salt” (a role that was originally intended for Tom Cruise). Therefore, it’s only fitting that A-lister Jolie returns to the big screen as one of Disney’s A-list villains.