An Interview with Angelina Jolie on Maleficent.

Disclosure: Disney is sponsoring travel, accommodations, and activities during my stay in Los Angeles. Thoughts are my own.

A few weeks ago, I announced that I was heading to a Maleficent press junket in L.A., where I would be interviewing “members of the cast and filmmakers” from the movie. What I didn’t know at the time was that this would also include an interview with the amazing ANGELINA JOLIE.

I will say it one more time – ANGELINA JOLIE.

Now, I don’t get starstruck often, but I have to admit that I may have clapped my hands and jumped around a bit when I heard the news. What a special opportunity to interview the one and only Angelina!

My first impressions of Angelina in person? Serious, smart, and, of course, stunningly beautiful. Inspiring, too, very much inspiring.

Below is a portion of our interview.

Q: I believe that everything in life prepares you for this moment.  So when I look at your career, you’ve done all kinds of movies.  What brought you to this moment with a family Disney movie?

“I was moved by it as a mother.  But I was also really moved by it because I thought of myself as a little girl and of all the kids I know, and I just think of feeling different, feeling outside, and also as a woman, feeling abused and this ideal if you’ve ever been abused and then you put this wall up. You become darker and you’re not able to be this soft person that you were born to be. Then, what could possibly ever bring you back?”

Q: How much of the Maleficent story did you know before you read the script?

“I didn’t really know anything. When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by her. I didn’t really identify with the princesses, at the time. It was like seeing this elegant, powerful woman who seemed to be having a great time, so I was a bit fascinated by her. And then there was a rumor that the movie was going to be made.”

Q: How long did it take you to get ready for filming with the hair and makeup?

“I think it was about two and a half hours at the end of the day.  Which wasn’t as bad, we had really a great team.  They’d work together, Tommy and Arjen, and we did it all at once.”

Q: Was the head piece heavy?

“They were so great in that they worked so hard to make it not heavy.  My hair was in these really funny little buns in order to get the head piece. My hair was used as the thing that held the the horns on. They made it very lightweight. Then they also had detachable horns, partially for weight, and also because I kept knocking myself out. So the first few days, I was just a complete mess.”

Q: How fun is it playing a villain in a Disney movie?  How did you find your voice that you use for this film?  

“My kids helped me find it. I always tell stories, I’m sure we all have a few voices. I tell them stories and I was giving them baths and doing this thing where a few nights in a row I would tell them storied in the bath.  I was trying out voices and a few they’d say, “please stop.”  And then, sometimes, they’d listen and they’d kind of be more engaged.

And then I did that voice and they couldn’t stop laughing.  So I kept doing it more, and more, and more, and more, and more. They still make me do it. I had to do it the other night for bedtime.”

Q: As a mom, humanitarian, entertainment how do you do it all?  I’m a mom to twins and I can’t hardly keep up with them and you have six kids.  How do you do it all?

“Well I don’t.  I have a supportive partner and he and I are able to take turns working often. And when you make a film, it doesn’t take all year around. When I direct it does, but I get to decide when I leave in the morning and when I come home at night, and I can edit in my bedroom, and be there in case there’s an emergency with the children. I have a very rare luxury with my job to be able to have my kids with me on set every day and home school and other mothers have it much harder than I do.”

Q: What did your kids think the first time they saw you in full costume?

“Some of them were fine, they just got a little quiet. And one, Pax, ran away from me. So, he had to come in the makeup trailer and watch me take everything off. “

Stay tuned for my review of MALEFICENT and more cast interviews in the coming days. MALEFICENT is rated PG and releases in theaters everywhere on May 30th!

Disclosure: Disney is sponsoring travel, accommodations, and activities during my stay in Los Angeles. Thoughts are my own. 

Amy @ Mom Spark

Founder of Mom Spark – a lifestyle blog for moms.