Maleficent, Disney's quintessential witch, comes to life on the big screen

Shot with ARRI Alexa Plus and Studio cameras, with Panavision Primo lenses, and working in an ARRIRAW format (2.8K), Disney premieres the big screen adaptation of the villain from the 1959 classic 'Sleeping Beauty'.

Disney premieres this weekend around the world, Maleficent, the big screen adaptation of the villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty.

Maleficent is a beautiful young woman with a pure heart and amazing black wings. She grows up in an idyllic environment, a peaceful forest kingdom, until one day an army of human invaders threatens the harmony of the country. Maleficent sets herself up as the fearsome protector of her kingdom, but in the end she is the target of a ruthless betrayal that will harden her heart to stone. Blinded by her desire for revenge, Maleficent wages an epic battle with the king of humans and as a result places a curse on Aurora, her newborn daughter. When the girl grows up, she understands that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom, and also to Maleficent's true happiness.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville.

The film is produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg, with Angelina Jolie, Don Hahn, Matt Smith, Palak Patel, Sarah Bradshaw and Michael Vieira serving as executive producers. Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay.

Curiosities of the filming

Maleficent was shot with ARRI Alexa Plus and Studio cameras, with Panavision Primo lenses, working in an ARRIRAW format (2.8K). EFilm was in charge of the digital intermediation, while Codex technology played a prominent role in the entire workflow.

The production featured an extraordinary number of physical sets. Production designers Gary Freeman and Dylan Cole, along with set decorator Lee Sandales, worked with Stromberg to create exterior and interior backdrops worthy of this epic epic. About 40 sets were built, from a 1.10 m2 room to the 460 m2 Great Hall.

The castle is a physical recreation, both inside and out, of the castle from the 1959 animated film. It is grand, with marble floors and 16th-century materials and finishes, and is furnished with antiques. It took 14 weeks to build, employing 250 workers, and an art department of 20 people.

Ricky Baker, winner of seven Oscars, headed the special makeup effects department. He was responsible for Angelina Jolie's horns and prosthetic cheekbones as well as other special character makeup. Baker and his team sculpted three different sets of horns based on Maleficent's original look in the animated film. The horns are made from a urethane resin, a lightweight and durable material. To make all of Angelina Jolie's prosthetics fit the angles of her face, the team made a mold of her head and made rubber cheeks and ears following those contours. In the case of Angelina Jolie, four hours a day were spent placing the prosthesis.

The production used motion capture technique for the three Fairies (Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville) when they were filmed in their original size of 53cm to capture every nuance of the three actresses' talents. The visual effects team used 150 markers on each of the faces to reproduce their facial expressions on the CG characters. These fun characters were slightly caricatured in the 53cm size, with larger heads and their natural silhouettes exaggerated so they didn't look like normal people reduced to 53cm tall.

El look

Getting the look perfect for the live-action film was very important to both director Robert Stromberg and Angelina Jolie. “Angelina was not only fascinated by the character but also by the way she looked,” says Stromberg. “We worked together to achieve a character that was not a stereotypical image, but it was also essential that the audience immediately recognized Maleficent.”

The job of recreating Maleficent's costume from the animated film fell to costume designer Anna B. Sheppard, known for her work on “Schindler's List” and “The Pianist,” which earned her awards nominations. of the Academy. The costume designer had to create two very different worlds, one with creatures that live in a fairy forest and another that is a human kingdom. Sheppard began his research by studying 15th century, French and Italian Renaissance art in paintings, sketches and sculptures.

The look of the Maleficent character that appeared in the 1959 animated film was the work of animator Marc Davis, to whom we owe Maleficent's horns and her elegant style with flowing capes and high chokers. So Sheppard started with these references to find Maleficent's look. After watching “Sleeping Beauty,” Sheppard added the design elements and says, “The character that comes from that movie is Maleficent. I used colors that look like the Disney movie. I think that in the big baptism scene, Maleficent's look is what everyone expects. She is the Maleficent of the animated version, only much more beautiful.”

The costume designer points out: “Maleficent's costumes evolve and go from moss green tones and “ethereal” fabrics to dark colors and sculptural shapes with much heavier fabrics with a lot of volume. “Faux fur and feather accessories created by specialized designers were used to give the character a much darker and more sinister look.”

One of the first elements to be created were Maleficent's horns and facial outline as they were essential to creating Maleficent's distinctive look. Rick Baker, the seven-time Oscar®-winning special makeup effects designer, was brought into this process. Baker started immediately with a digital painting in which he reproduced his vision of Maleficent's look. “I thought about Angelina Jolie, and I didn't want to burden her too much. In my opinion, we should add horns and ears and not do anything to the face,” says Baker.

But the design underwent certain transformations with the ideas that Angelina Jolie contributed. As Baker explains, “Angelina wanted to wear prosthetics, so I did some prosthetic designs that were subtle. She also wanted a nose that would reinforce Maleficent's look. In the initial phases, we created many combinations of cheeks, ears and horns. First we made sketches and then we sculpted them in a mold of her head and made prototypes for her to review.”

Baker created silicone and gel-filled prosthetic cheeks, noses and ears for Jolie. In the film, Maleficent's cheeks are very marked, but the truth is that the prosthetics are very small. Baker explains: “It is incredible because the maximum thickness of the prostheses is 6.35 mm and 1.27 cm wide. They are placed on the most prominent part of your cheekbones.”

When it came time to make the antlers, Baker faced several challenges. “The horns posed the biggest problem because no one wants to spend the day with huge horns on their head,” Baker says. “So I wanted them to be as light as possible and also removable because when you have an object on your head that sticks out 30 cm and you're not used to it, you're bound to spend the day bumping into things.”

Baker and his team sculpted a minimum of four different antler designs. “I did some drawings and also molded antler designs on the computer,” Baker says. “Then we sculpted them. We chose the one we liked the most and did all the work based on that single design.”

The good thing is that the horns are very light and thin and are made of a urethane resin. “After a lot of experimenting, we ended up with a large cap that incorporated the base of the horns and the first 2.5 centimeters of the horns,” explains Baker. “The rest of the horns were attached with a magnet. They were very strong magnets that held them perfectly and allowed us to remove them when not riding.”

The green skin that Maleficent has in “Sleeping Beauty” does not exist in the live-action version of “Maleficent.” “But we wanted her to be pretty and attractive,” Baker notes. “It was very important because we didn't want her to look like a fictional creature. We wanted her appearance to be as realistic as possible in this film.”

Baker also wore contact lenses to complete Jolie's Maleficent look. “Angelina designed them,” Baker says. “An expert artist in that field hand-painted the contact lenses. I work with a person who always makes them for us. We had some photos of her eyes and we made them a little bigger.”

After designing and crafting the horns, milliner Justin Smith was brought into the design to line the horns and headdress worn by Jolie's Maleficent. The first thing he did was study the costumes that Anna Sheppard had created for the character. He then brought his innovative ideas to the creation of an iconic look based on the original character from the animated film. Explaining his ideas, Smith comments: “Angelina was always the muse and I created several headpiece designs for them. The designs were based on the story of Maleficent, namely the fact that she has horns. I designed and created looks that reflected the tension between the terror she inspires and the magical element. The result was a contemporary couture version of the 1950s animated version.”

Smith consulted with Angelina Jolie, the star of the film, to come up with the basic design of the headpieces. “Angelina wanted something that would completely cover her head and cover all of her hair. But she didn't want it to look like she was wearing a turban on her head. So I quickly understood what she wanted and we started creating an identity for her. We start working with exotic skins.

“There is python skin, very fine leather and also fish skin. “Everything is based on clean, simple silhouettes and a technique that allows them to be easily placed by wrapping them around the head,” Smith concludes.

To create his designs, Smith started from existing references. “There was clearly a theme that we had to build on and rely on the fabrics that had already been chosen,” says Smith. “So I looked at what materials I could use to fit in with the rest of the costume. I contributed my own techniques and the modern style of millinery that characterizes me. Many of my references are artists like Michael Parkes, who is one of my favorites, especially his beautiful, elegant lithographs. I also gathered information in some books about knots and others that I usually use for my work.”

Using all these resources, Smith adapted his techniques and ideas to the costumes. “I tried to do something that I hope is new and somewhat avant-garde, with a futuristic touch. But I didn't want it to be scary or too attention-grabbing,” explains Smith. “It's more about complementing the overall look so that everything is harmonious.”

Smith used history to guide him, using its many references to animals and creatures from the forest kingdom, and brought some influences from the animal kingdom to Maleficent's look. “The idea was that the headdresses had no structure, without any seams,” explains the hatter. “They seem very artisanal, as if they were skins and materials from the forest. It's as if Maleficent has wrapped them around her head. The idea was for them to look very natural and not artificial at all.”

Smith created six different headdresses that correspond to the seasons to specific scenes. Describing some of the looks, Smith says: “There is a summer look that is a python skin headdress. At the baptism she wears a leather turban with leather-lined thorns. We also have a spring look which is a ribbon of stitched leather that creates a ridged effect and which is then painted and lacquered. There is the spiked stingray headdress. The stripe is on the top and the leather is on the sides.”

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guZJMgCatiM[/youtube]

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