Earlier this month, we brought you casting news on the additions of India Eisley (Underworld: Awakening, The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and Harry Potter veterans Imelda Staunton and Miranda Richardson joining Disney’s Maleficent, a re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty tale from the evil fairy’s point of view.
Now, THR reports that Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Atonement) rounds out the casting of the “three neglectful and superficial pixie fairies in the classic fairy tale who are tasked with taking care of Aurora in the cottage in the woods.” Temple has been cast as Thistletwit. The other two pixies are played by Staunton and Lesley Manville (Another Year) as Knotgrass and Flittle respectively.
Angelina Jolie will play the titular evil fairy with Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora and Sharlto Copley as Stefan, the half-human and half-fairy bastard son of the human king. Sam Riley (Brighton Rock) has also been cast as Diaval, Maleficent’s right hand, a raven who can take human form and Kenneth Cranham (Made in Dagenham) will play “the human king who plots to conquer the fairy kingdom.”
Disney has reunited members of the Alice in Wonderland dream team for Maleficent with writer Linda Woolverton, producer Joe Roth, and Robert Stromberg, who is best known for his work in Art Direction and Visual Effects, to direct. Stromberg makes his directorial debut with this project.
Maleficent begins production in London in June and is slated to hit theaters on March 14, 2014.