Maleficent - who is she, mythology, what the name means, where she lives, what she eats, character

About filming

The traits of the main character were visible in various stories and fairy tales. The closest version to Disney's was Sleeping Beauty in the Forest. In Charles Perrault's fairy tale there was another hero - the prince. And only he could break the spell with his kiss. Walt Disney presented the full-fledged heroine Maleficent - and not just her features - in the cartoon "Sleeping Beauty". Walt spent more than a dozen years and $6 million creating the cartoon. And on June 11, 2012, filming began for the fantasy feature film “Melificent,” the actors of which were filmed at the famous Pinewood Studios.

But it so happened that director Robert Stromberg finally took over the work on the film. Speaking of the director, Robert was awarded 2 Oscars. He was able to show the plot of the fairy tale from a completely different angle. Stromberg, like everyone else who had not started making the film, was happy with the choice of actress for the role of the main character.

Maleficent - who is it?

Beautiful and terrible at the same time, Maleficent is the Sleeping Beauty, or rather, the antagonist of the main character of the work of the same name, written by the Frenchman Charles Perrault (there is an option proposed by the Brothers Grimm). We only know that heroine as an ugly old woman with a stick, but with modern Maleficent everything is different.

What does the name Maleficent mean?

The name of this controversial character in early translations sounded like Diavolina, or Maleficent, and more literally, then: “harmful”, “criminal”, “harmful”, “causing evil”. For old versions of films about this heroine, such a translation very accurately reflects the essence of Maleficent, but in the new modern version, the authors and screenwriters were able to reveal for us the other, bright side, telling an interesting story over which time has no power. Maleficent - who is she and the mythology associated with the name of this character has Latin roots and sounds like maleficentia.

Who are Maleficent's parents?

It is not said reliably anywhere who her parents were, but given who Maleficent is, we can assume that they are creatures like her - elves. In the first part of the film, parents were mentioned once in a dialogue with Stefan. Then young Maleficent told her new friend that she had been living alone in the swamps since early childhood, since her parents died tragically due to the fault of people.

What does Maleficent look like?

Once you see Maleficent, it will be difficult to forget her, how bright and exciting she looks. What is so memorable about the image of the witch from the swamps? For everyone, Maleficent has horns of incredible beauty (as a symbol of belonging to the dark forces), which in itself sounds a little contradictory, and wings, strong and majestic, as well as yellow eyes that add mysticism to Maleficent. Other striking features are high cheekbones and pointed elven ears.

Today's Maleficent has a majestic posture, she is reserved and sedate. The image of the sorceress is complemented by a staff with a shining ball at the end, which is a witchcraft attribute, and a ring with a stone. These elements help the sorceress disappear, transform any living creature into another, cast spells and enchantments.

Where does Maleficent live?

From the Disney adaptation of Maleficent, we learned that a charming witch lives in the Marsh Swamps, surrounded by kind and funny fairy-tale creatures. This territory is a tasty morsel for the king, whose lands are located nearby, because they are fabulously rich in precious stones, metals and strange plants. The swamps where Maleficent lived became the cause of enmity between the kingdoms. The greedy and insatiable ruler, in his desire to enrich himself, did not disdain anything to conquer them, and the mistress of the dark forces defended her home and loyal subjects with the help of witchcraft.

What does Maleficent eat?

The evil, which we have encountered before in various film adaptations, was not noticed in our usual meals, so, unfortunately, it is impossible to answer the question unambiguously. If we think logically, we can come to some conclusions regarding what Maleficent ate.

She is an elf and it is likely that the basis of her diet could be fruits, berries, various nuts, nectar, honey, herbs and roots. History is silent about gastronomic preferences, but what can be said with certainty is that the sorceress could go without food and water for a long time, like other representatives of the elves.

Who played the main characters

Angeli Jolie

Angelina Jolie is an adult Maleficent. The first one who was accepted for this role, long before filming began. Several actresses were also invited. Maleficent was played as a child by Isobel Molloy. In her youth she was portrayed by Ella Purnell. For Jolie, this is the first film from the Disney studio in which she took part . She worked with make-up artists for a long time on the image, as the filmmakers wanted to use Jolie’s beauty as a marketing ploy, but the actress insisted that her image retain the frightening features of the original source.

Vivienne Jolie-Pitt

Vivvienne Jolie-Pitt - Princess Aurora at 5 years old. Her mother, Angeli Jolie, insisted on filming the young actress. Several actors were also invited to film this heroine. At the age of 8 it was actress Eleanor Worthington-Cox. And the role of Aurora in old age, or rather her voice-over, was voiced by Janet McTeer.

Sharlto Copley

Shartlo Copley - the role of Stefan. Stefan is the same hero who cut off Maleficent's wings for his own benefit - ruling the kingdom. 3 actors were invited to play this role to play Stefan as a child and in his youth. Sharlto is not only an actor, he has experience in directing and as a producer. He found popularity after science fiction films.

Sam Riley

Sam Riley - Raven Divial. Raven is the main character's assistant. Sam is an English actor and also the “face” of a famous brand. After filming, the actor described his emotions from collaborating with actors of such magnitude. He was delighted. In addition, he was impressed by the incredibly beautiful scenery on the set.

FilmMaleficent: Mistress of Evil

Angelina Jolie gets into Game of Thrones from a fairy tale

Five years after the awakened beauty Aurora (Elle Fanning) became the queen of the magical swamps, her beloved Prince Philip (Harris Dickinson) is ready to propose marriage. The meeting with the parents takes place solemnly: King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) receive Aurora at the palace, insisting that the sorceress Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), who raised the bride, join them. Maleficent, who has a bad experience with people, is unhappy with the marriage, but reluctantly agrees to dinner. Her premonitions did not deceive her: Ingrith, five minutes before Aurora’s mother-in-law, as it turns out, is preparing a political provocation.

In the five years under review - which have passed since the first "Maleficent" both in screen life and in real life - the sorceress, apparently, retired, looked into the distance and, say, preened her feathers. Angelina Jolie, although she did not sit idly by at all (she worked as a director and was involved in all sorts of activism), she practically did not act in films, and the role of the horned winged witch is, one might say, her big return to Hollywood (several films are in the near future). The author of the first film - a prominent special effects artist and a mediocre, as it turned out, director Stromberg - was replaced by Joakim Rønning, half of the super-successful Norwegian duo that started with advertising and, through the national blockbuster "Kon-Tiki", reached "Pirates of the Caribbean". It seems, however, that everything is going to the point that Mistress of Evil will not be able to repeat the financial success of the original.

The first film, as many undoubtedly remember, was a revisionist fairy tale in the spirit of magical feminism: the evil witch is evil only because men took her wings, and Sleeping Beauty is awakened by the kiss not of a prince, but of a motherly adult woman who loved her. The sequel follows this same path even further. The fact that Prince Philip is played by a new actor will be noticed only by the most attentive: he is still a well-intentioned, but completely meaningless character who, about twenty minutes before the end, in the midst of betrayals, murders and wars, asks the bride who flew (literally) into his window: “ A? What happened, honey?

But now the antagonist has also become a woman, and here the Norwegian’s experience in staging war epics comes in handy: Michelle Pfeiffer, with her usual grace, plays more or less Hitler. In particular, the climactic scene in which the charming magical creatures are locked in a certain room and poisoned with red gas is no doubt deliberately evocative. It is curious that all this bloodless, Disney-style, but rather depressing genocide with elements of “Game of Thrones” can be watched from the age of six - in order to go to “Beauty and the Beast” by the same studio and not be infected with harmful ideas, in Russia you had to be at ten years older.

As for Maleficent herself, Jolie, unlike her make-up artists, did not overwork herself - she simply does not have many scenes this time. But this is the case when less is more: Renning very dramatically, with ominous music and expressive silhouettes, frames her every appearance and every phrase (all the lines of the title character would probably fit on one page), and the actress again blossoms in this almost parodic image. Is there some kind of Oscar for cheekbones? However, there are also bare legs: in one episode, Maleficent wakes up in a place that simply had to be the backstage of a Vogue cover shoot (but it turns out, alas, to be a child’s Avatar tattoo).

Compared to the cute, but sluggish and categorically not magical first film, this is perhaps a step forward: the sequel does not even try to pretend to be a fairy tale, but is honestly made according to the laws of fantasy. We take everything and more: geopolitical metaphors, palace intrigue, a little love, fairies, dragons, cats, intelligent mushrooms - even a used spindle, contrary to medical recommendations, can be taken out of the basement a second time. Everything is noisy, beautiful and, in general, not boring. Another thing is that for adults it’s still a little bland, but you can’t tell a child such “Maleficent” at night: not even because it’s scary, but just go and remember what happened there.

Scenery

The film is full of colorful places where the events took place. The lion's share of the effort went to the decorator, director and production designer to create the interior and exterior. A huge number of decorative areas of varying sizes were built, the largest of which was 464 square meters. meters.

The same castle that was drawn in 1959 was created with incredible precision. It took 14 weeks to create the copy, which is a colossal amount of work by many artists and builders.

Interesting fact - there were real marble tiles and real antiques inside.

Creation

Pre-production and job distribution

In May 2009, it was reported that American film director Brad Bird was planning to make an adventure feature film about Maleficent, the villainess from the Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959), with Angelina Jolie in the title role.[35] In January 2010, it was announced that Tim Burton would direct the film,[36] but in May 2011, Burton announced that he was leaving the project due to his desire to focus on creating a new film adaptation of the 1984 film Frankenweenie.[37][38]. Then the Disney studio decided to hire David Yates, who directed the final four Harry Potter films, as director[39][40], but on January 6, 2012 it became known that the film would be directed by debutant Robert Stromberg, production designer for the films Avatar and Alice in Wonderland”, winner of two Oscar awards[41][42][43]. The screenwriter for the film was Linda Woolverton[44], who had previously worked on scripts for the films “Avatar”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”[45]. The film was to be produced by Richard Darryl Zanuck until his death in July 2012.[46] Filming for Maleficent began on June 18, 2012 in Buckinghamshire.[47] Post-production was scheduled for October 5, 2012[11].

Original release dates

The film was originally scheduled to be released on March 14, 2014, but was soon pushed back to July 2, 2014 due to the release of another Disney film, The Muppets 2,[48][49][50], but in September 2013 it became it is known that the release date of the film has been postponed to May 30, 2014[6][51].

Music

The musical score for the film "Maleficent" was written by American composer James Newton Howard[52]. The official soundtrack was released on May 27, 2014.[53] On January 23, 2014, it was announced that singer Lana Del Rey would record a cover version of the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the original 1959 animated film as the main soundtrack.[54] Lana Del Rey was chosen to perform the song by Angelina Jolie herself. The single was released on January 26.

Track list

Box office

Maleficent earned $241.4 million at the North American box office.[3] In other countries, the film earned a total of $517 million.[3] The film's worldwide box office totaled $758.4 million[3].

Costumes and makeup

The creation of the impressive makeup fell into the hands of the 7-time Oscar winner. He led the entire team of makeup artists for the fantasy “Maleficent”. Several specialists worked on the horns and ears of the film's main actress. The remaining makeup artists spent more than one hour creating makeup for the other characters. In order to create perfectly correct curves of the horn, specialists needed a lot of time and effort. By the way, 3 versions of the horn were created. Playing with the actors of the film Melificent became an extremely important and unforgettable experience for Anna Sheppard.

Angelina Jolie (Maleficent)

The film "Maleficent": actress Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, thr.ru

Actors of the film "Troy": then and now

Maleficent is a sorceress who lives in the Fens. She falls in love with Stefan, who cruelly betrayed her in the future.

Angelina Jolie's star debut took place in 1982, after her filming in the film “Looking for a Way Out,” which also starred her parents. The actress's greatest popularity came from her role as a video game heroine in the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Jolie also has the projects “Gia”, “The Vicissitudes of Love”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, “Tourist”, etc.

In 2020, Angelina Jolie continues to act; the actress agreed to film the second part of “Maleficent.”

Acting debut

Reflections on which actress will play the young Princess Aurora affected not only the director, but also the main character. In addition to filming, Angelina participates in the overall process of its creation. Actress Jolie says that her children were always present on the set to see and understand what their mother was doing. Jolie and Pitt have repeatedly stated that they never wanted their children to become actors. But it happened.

A girl running on the set, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, caught her mother’s attention, and the actress announced who could handle the role of Aurora. And I was right. Aspiring actress Vivien fits into the role perfectly.

Maleficent / Maleficent

Maleficent is the main character of the film Maleficent. In the film she is played by the inimitable Angelina Jolie, in her youth Ella Purnell, also a charming fairy.

Maleficent (which translates as “malicious”) was a good fairy, ruler of a magical kingdom in a forest swamp. Surrounded by fairy-tale creatures, she led a peaceful life, taking care of the forest. She protected him from people from the neighboring kingdom who were invading the magical world for profit. She had large horns and huge, powerful wings that carried her to the clouds.

One day she met a boy, the thief Stefan, the son of simple peasants. This boy became the best friend of the young fairy, who revealed to him all the secrets, even the one that iron harms her, weakening her powers. At the age of 16, Maleficent was sure that she loved Stefan and gave him her kiss.

Over time, Maleficent began to notice that Stefan was moving away from her, plunging into the greedy world of people.

As she grew older, she devoted herself to protecting the forest when King Henry, jealous of the wealth and prosperity of the magical kingdom, invaded it with an army. The human army was defeated, but the king wanted revenge.

Maleficent did not know that Stefan had succumbed to the thirst for the crown, which the dying King Henry promised to the one who killed Maleficent. Although Stefan was unable to kill his beloved, he cut off her wings by putting her to sleep.

Maleficent was angry at her lover's betrayal. Without wings, she was weak and defenseless. Having learned that Stefan had betrayed her in order to become king, in a fit of anger, dressed in a black robe, she sat on the throne, proclaiming herself the queen of a fairy-tale kingdom. The once kind fairy became angry and vengeful, waiting for the moment to take revenge.

Maleficent saved the raven by turning him into a human named Diaval. From that moment on, the raven became the eyes and wings of the witch.

A few years later, when the king and queen's daughter Aurora was born, Maleficent appeared at the christening. As revenge, begging Stefan not to harm Aurora, she cast a spell on the girl, which said that Aurora would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday and fall asleep dead of dreams, and only the kiss of true love could wake her up.

Relations between the two kingdoms were crushed. Stefan, wanting to kill the sorceress, sent people for her head, but Maleficent erected an impenetrable wall of thorns, locking herself in her kingdom.

Aurora was sent into a deep forest with three fairies Flittle, Philsweet and Knotgrass, who were disgusting nannies and almost killed the princess. However, Maleficent was always nearby, affectionately calling the girl “monster.” She watched the girl’s life with interest, secretly, and fifteen years later she met the blossoming Aurora, face to face. The princess called her fairy godmother, whose shadow always followed her.

Having become very close to the smiling Aurora, Malifecent tried to remove her spell, but this turned out to be impossible. Diaval suggested using Prince Philip, whom Aurora met in the forest and fell in love with, to lift the curse, but Malifecent declared that love does not exist and the spell cannot be lifted.

On Aurora's 16th birthday, Malifecent lived in fear that the curse would come true and invited the princess to settle in her magical kingdom. Aurora happily agreed. She announced this to the fairy godparents, who told the girl the whole truth about the spell.

Aurora denounced Maleficent and went to her father's castle.

On Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, the sorceress felt that her curse had been fulfilled and, having found Prince Philip, put him to sleep, she went to the human castle.

The prince's kiss did not wake the princess.

Repentant, Malifecent kissed the girl on the forehead, from which she woke up. Together with Aurora, they wanted to leave the castle, but King Stefan set a trap for the sorceress. Having transformed Diaval into a dragon, Malifecent enters into battle with her old friend.

Aurora came to the aid of the sorceress and gave Malifecent her wings back. Having regained her former power, the sorceress wins, and Stefan dies, falling from the tower.

After peace reigned, Maleficent destroyed the wall separating the two kingdoms. She named Aurora the queen of the fairy swamp, thereby uniting the two kingdoms.

Maleficent - trailer

Interesting Facts

The film is truly rich in interesting processes of creating a masterpiece.

1. Angelina took part in the creation of the entire film from makeup to scenery.
2. Regarding the makeup, the actress made her own adjustments. She asked to make the nose with a hump and the cheekbones to be sunken - this gave an angry look to the image.
3. The heroine's nails were painted on both sides.
4. More than 200 costumes were sewn by hand.
5. The viewer never saw actress Miranda Richardson in the role of Ulla; she was accepted for this role, but in the process, this character was removed.
6. It took professionals 4 hours every day to create the makeup.

History of character creation

With the development of cinema and animation, the good old fairy tales have changed beyond recognition. Directors, in fact, create new bright characters from classic book heroes. This happened with the villainess, who migrated to film from Charles Perrault’s fairy tale “The Sleeping Beauty.” In 1938, Walt Disney decided to make a cartoon based on the magical story, but it was only 20 years later that the idea was brought to life.

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The French storyteller placed the envious fairy Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, who, having married the king, cursed his daughter. Disney scriptwriters presented the bosses with a plot mix of the previous cartoons “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella”; later the motifs of the fairy tale about the girl in the glass slippers were replaced with details from “The Hollywood Story of a Boy Meeting a Girl.” The main negative heroine became a powerful sorceress named Maleficent, which translated means “Evil One”, “Devil”.

Artist Mark Davis had to work hard to come up with the final design. At first, in the drawings, the heroine appeared in the familiar appearance of a scary old woman with a hooked nose, but during work the animator gave the antagonist the features of a huge bat.