Maleficent Poster: Angelina Jolie Manages to Look Dangerous and Alluring at the Same Time

Find out how they created the Sleeping Beauty villainess' look

By Zach Johnson Mar 10, 2014 5:52 PMTags
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Who better than Angelina Jolie to play the Mistress of All Evil?

The actress looks appropriately wicked in Disney's latest Maleficent poster, unveiled Monday morning. Unlike prior promotional materials, which were done in almost all black, the villainess stands out against a white backdrop. The effect highlights each and every detail of the titular character's look.

Makeup artist Rick Baker used prosthetics to achieve Maleficent's razor-sharp cheekbones. "Angie liked the way Lady Gaga had her makeup done with the triangular forms under the skin," he tells Entertainment Weekly. Baker also used a prosthetic nose and ears to complete Jolie's look.

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The 38-year-old Academy Award winner considered more than 50 types of black fabric for her robe. She ultimately chose a dense Japanese material with tiny pleats, which was finished with some leather. A team from Spain, led by Manuel Albarran, was brought in to create the wild collars for each of the character's looks. Costume designer Anna B. Sheppard commissioned five rings made of leather with accents designed to resemble a bird's book. She also sifted through countless stones before settling on a clear crystal brooch. As for the horns? "We had to make them very light and removable," Baker says.

Jolie relished in the chance to play one of the most storied characters in the Disney cannon. But, of course, getting the look right was only half the battle.

"Maleficent was always so elegant. She was always in control. And to play her was difficult," the engaged mother of six says. "I worked on my voice a lot. She's bigger than me. She's on a different level of performance than I have ever done. She's very still. She's very sure of her voice. I kept playing with these different types of British voices, making my voice darker and scarier."

Jolie continues, "I was giving my kids a bath, and I started making up other stories about Maleficent. They weren't really paying attention to me...until I started to mess around with this playful [singsongy] voice. It gets very, very dark, but it had these colors. My kids started laughing. And that's how I would rehearse my scenes. I would do it until my kids were somehow smiling or thought it was funny, because you have to do that and go there with her. Then it was really fun; it was actually quite freeing as an artist to do something so completely nuts."