No "Maleficent" for Burton

Back in January 2010, there was talk of the very busy Tim Burton being attached to direct a movie on the Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent with Disney. But the Hollywood Reporter provides an update on the project, saying that Burton is no longer attached to direct Maleficent.

Disney has not put the project down yet, however. There is talk of the Harry Potter director David Yates being up for consideration to helm the movie. There is also speculation that Darren Aronofsky, director of such films as The Wrestler and Black Swan, might be attached to the film.

MTV News spoke with Angelina Jolie, who is still being considered to play the leading role of Maleficent, to get an update from her. Jolie said that she was not aware of Aronofsky being attached, but she has read the script (penned by Alice in Wonderland scribe Linda Woolverton) and enjoyed it.

On Maleficent, Jolie said, "I would love to [do it]. It's all new and being discussed, but I loved [Maleficent] when I was a little girl, she was my favorite."

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Interview: Burton on Four Upcoming Projects

MTV News had a brief interview with Tim Burton in which he discussed four of his upcoming projects, Dark Shadows (due to begin production in April 2011), Frankenweenie (which has begun some test shots in London), an animated version of The Addams Family and Maleficent (both in development with Burton attached as a potential director). While there is no entirely new information, we do get the hear the status of these projects from the man himself:

MTV: It sounds like you'll be shooting "Dark Shadows" with Johnny [Depp] soon?

Burton: Yeah, I'm working on the script, and, you know, it's been kind of a long time coming, but I think I'm getting a script that I like. I don't really like talking because I'm not really sure what's happening yet but I'm excited about it. I think, yes, finally for me, it's getting to be the right tone.

MTV: Have you and Johnny talked specifically about his take on Barnabas?

Burton: Yeah, we've been talking about it. I mean, He's finishing up another movie, but we've had a couple of really good meetings. Yeah, you know, I'm excited.

MTV: Have you started shooting "Frankenweenie"?

Burton: We just started a couple of shots. It's good. We've got a pretty low budget, but I'm excited about it. We've got a couple of shots that are done. Yeah, it's just starting. It's great.

MTV: Is it exciting to revisit that story?

Burton: We're changing it a little bit. I wouldn't do it if it felt like it was just doing the same thing. For me, it's about trying to go back to the original drawings and kind of capture that spirit a little bit more of what the drawings are. It feels different even though it's a similar story, but we're kind of expanding it a bit.

MTV: You're also working on "The Addams Family"?

Burton: Yeah, I've always been a big fan of the drawings, the key thing with that is to capture the spirit of the original artwork.

MTV: And that will be in black and white?

Burton: Yeah, that's the goal... to just capture what he did.

MTV: I spoke to Angelina Jolie recently, and she said she's a huge fan of yours and is anxious to make "Maleficent" with you.

Burton: I'd love to work with her. We're working on a script for that. It's hard to know when that script will be ready. But I'm a huge fan, I'd love to work with her -- so, yeah, that would be a good one.

Hahn on "Frankenweenie," "Maleficent"

Don Hahn of Disney recently spoke to Empire. Hahn discussed several forthcoming Disney projects (The Snow Queen, Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2, and the 3D re-releases of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King), including two titles that Tim Burton has been attached to: the feature-length, animated version of Frankenweenie and an in-development project called Maleficent. While there's nothing too big to announce, it's valuable hearing information on these two films from a Disney big-wig.

In the article, Hahn first mentions Maleficent. The live-action film would be the story of Sleeping Beauty told from the villain's perspective. Disney has reportedly attached Tim Burton on the project as possibly directing the film, and there are rumors that Angelina Jolie would play the title role (this has not been confirmed yet). Linda Woolverton is also attached as the screenwriter.


Rumors state that Angelina Jolie is being considered to play Maleficent in a new movie.

"That's another one I can’t talk about!," said Hahn on Maleficent. "All I can say is that it's in active development and will be pretty fun. It is great working again with Tim on Frankenweenie, though: I love that he's back to doing puppets. But Maleficent is a way off and it's a little too early to talk about it, except to say that it’s happening."

Don Hahn was recently in England, observing the status of Frankenweenie. The film is currently in pre-production, and is set to begin filming at London's Three Mills Studio very soon. Hahn will be serving as an executive producer.

Woolverton to Script "Maleficent"

The Hollywood Reporter has said that Linda Woolverton -- who wrote the screenplay for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland -- is attached as the screenwriter for Maleficent, an upcoming fantasy film from Disney that intends to tell the classic "Sleeping Beauty" story from the villain's perspective.


Linda Woolverton

The studio has attached Tim Burton as a potential director of the project, but the hiring of Woolverton is only the first concrete step in making this project a reality. Burton is circling numerous forthcoming projects, and there has been no word on his involvement with Maleficent since the idea first spread online in January.

Disney has not made an official comment on this development yet.

Burton to Make Twisted "Sleeping Beauty"?

Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News had this to say:

"I was chatting to a fella I know tonight, and this person heard that Tim Burton is developing another classic Disney fairy tale in a quasi Live Actiony kinda way. It seems that Tim has a hankering for SLEEPING BEAUTY... but not really... You see, he's going to tell the story from Maleficent's point of view. In fact, it'll be called MALEFICENT."

However, this is all of the information that currently exists, and at this point it may only be a rumor.