Angelina Jolie's 'Maleficent' Will Start Shooting in June (Exclusive)
Jolie will play the fairy-sorceress in Disney's re-imagining of the "Sleeping Beauty" tale; Elle Fanning circling to play Aurora.
Disney's
Maleficent, a live-action origins story starring
Angelina Jolie as one of Disney's most iconic villians, is eyeing a June start date in London.our editor recommends
Robert Stromberg will direct
Maleficent from a script by
Linda Woolverton and is already in the U.K. prepping the film.
Malificent is a passion project for Jolie and will be her next acting role.
One possibility for the role of Aurora is
Elle Fanning, who is in talks to join the cast. Fanning's star status rose last year with
Somewhere and
J.J. Abrams sci-fi movie
Super 8.
Jolie, who recently made her feature directorial debut with Bosnian war drama
In the Land of Blood and Honey, has long been toying with the idea of playing the famous fairy-sorceress in the
Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
In December
she told THR her children want her to make the movie and even call her "mom-elicent." She's also eager to make a live-action family film after her experience voicing the
Kung Fu Panda franchise.
Jolie told
THR that she was drawn to screenwriter Woolverton's revisionist take on the fairy tale and the complex relationship between Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty.
Stromberg was the production designer o
n Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and Disney's upcoming
Oz the Great and Powerful.