Maleficent: Angelina Jolie Really Frightened Kids But Not Her Own Daughter

Angelina Jolie says she really frightened many small children while playing the lead role in Disney’s Maleficent.

Jolie told the D23 fan convention in Anaheim, “The strange thing was people with little kids would visit the set and I would think, “I’m a Disney character!”

She added, “I’d go over to the children and say hi… and they would scream and run off. One little boy actually said Mommy, ‘Please, tell the mean witch to please stop talking to me.’ ”

But Jolie said it was easier acting opposite the very young version of Princess Aurora/Briar Rose since it was played by her 4-year-old daughter, Vivienne, “She was the only who wouldn’t scream.”

The film, directed by Robert Stromberg, is completely different from the 1959 animated version. Jolie said that her role was from the point of view of the villain, and she played it a little sexier and a little darker.

Jolie — speaking as a mother of many — said she hoped families would warm to the villainess — who was one of her favorites from childhood.

“Since I was a little girl, Maleficent was always my favorite. I was terrified of her, but I was so drawn to her. I wanted to know more about her, know what she was like and who she was,” Jolie said. “She had this elegance and grace, and yet she was so cruel, Just wonderfully and deliciously cruel.”

Image Credit: Greg Williams