Angelina Jolie’s most popular franchise in a lead role to date remains Tomb Raider, where she portrayed Lara Croft, an adventurer.
However, the series, despite generating plenty of hype because of the video game it was inspired by, failed to replicate impressive numbers at the box office.
When it comes to making a proper mark at the box office, Jolie’s Maleficent stands at the summit, having racked up more than $1.2 billion with its two installments.
The premise of the movie is adapted from Walt Disney’s 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty.
Jolie plays a kind-hearted fairy, who upon being deceived by the love of her life, Stefan, aims to take revenge and ends up placing a curse on his daughter, Aurora.
The veteran actress was brilliant, and so was Elle Fanning as the Disney princess. Interestingly, the lead star’s eldest child, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was offered the part of the young Aurora, but she snubbed the opportunity.
The mother-daughter dynamic is a big part of Angelina Jolie‘s Maleficent. Her role is originally based on the evil fairy character in Sleeping Beauty. Still, in the movie, she’s shown to be much more sympathetic as there’s a huge focus on the character’s transformation from a victim into a villain and then a hero through maternal feelings.
This arc makes Aurora a very vital character. Accordingly, the decision-makers saw Shiloh Jolie-Pitt as a good fit for the part of the young Aurora. Having carried perhaps the most popular double surname in the industry, Jolie-Pitt is no stranger to camera flashes and would’ve been able to make a cameo appearance without much stage fright, especially since most of the scenes in the movie were alongside her mother. But Jolie-Pitt had different ideas.
“I asked Shiloh about being Aurora, and she laughed in my face,” the 48-year-old told Elle in 2014. “She said she’d be a horned creature.”
A source told US Weekly in 2012 that Shiloh was supposed to be in the movie “but she was bored and not in the mood during the day her part was supposed to happen, so she ended up not being in the film.”
The fantasy film’s producers had to look for an alternative who was unfazed by the evil look of Maleficent – a task which turned out to be easier said than done. Finally, Jolie had to hand the part to her younger child, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt.
The Wanted star couldn’t manage to convince Shiloh to star in Maleficent, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t faced the movie cameras elsewhere. The 17-year-old still has acting credits attached to her name.
At the age of just 2, Shiloh made a cameo in her dad, Brad Pitt’s movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Caroline.
Moreover, she also voiced the character of Shuai Shuai in Kung Fu Panda 3 in 2016. Her siblings, Zahara (Meng Meng) and Knox (Ku Ku) also joined Jolie – who lent her voice to the important role of Tigress – in the high-profile venture.
Maleficent is available for streaming on Disney+.
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Source: New York Post
