Disney's retelling of the classic "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale dominated at the box office this past weekend.
"Maleficent" brought in $70 million at the box office domestically while garnering more than $100 million overseas, according to Box Office Mojo. "Maleficent" followed the model of Disney's successful animated film, "Frozen." The story was about female empowerment and taking control of one's life despite making terrible mistakes.
Screenwriter Linda Woolverton recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about taking Maleficent's character and turning her into a protagonist in the film, finding it challenging to justify the villain's actions.
[Warning: the rest of this article contains spoilers]
"We based this on the Disney movie, not the fairy tale," Woolverton told THR, referring to the fight between King Stefan and Maleficent. "I was looking at that scene and I had done some research and the biggest surprise is that she's fairy, not a witch. I've always wanted to do a dark fairy story. Then I watched that scene where she curses the baby, and I'm thinking 'well if she's a fairy, where are her wings?' Suddenly it was 'boom. Lightbulb. Oh! It's the wings!' Then I worked backwards from there to create the Stefan relationship."
As for Woolverton deciding it would be Maleficent who breaks Aurora's curse instead of Prince Phillip, the writer explained to THR she knew early on the story would be leading up to it.
"You have to rewrite these things 100 times, and every single time I wrote it I could barely get through it," Woolverton explained. "I did Homeward Bound, you know that dog movie? Every single time I wrote the moment over the hill when everyone comes back at the end, I would cry into my hand over the keyboard. The kiss scene was like that for me."
THR asked Woolverton if Maleficent ever truly redeemed herself in the film, to which she responded: "Even if you can never come back from something so horrific, what's done is done. She doesn't ask for forgiveness, and her love for Aurora is her redemption."
