Teaser Trailer: Disney’s Maleficent: Evil Wears Fur

Maleficent is a nasty piece of work. She curses a princess, Aurora, to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die before her 16th birthday. She wears black, has horns on her hat. She is sensational.

Disney’s live action interpretation of Maleficent, based on their own adaptation of the Wicked Fairy Godmother in Sleeping Beauty (1959), has just released a teaser trailer. The film follows the story of how Maleficent (played by Angelina Jolie) came to be, from a beautiful kind-hearted girl to the twisted Mistress of Evil, similar in some respects to the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz. Basically a good gal gone bad, and who doesn’t love a good gal gone bad?

Costuming Maleficent is Anna B. Sheppard. With films such as Schindler’s List (1993), The Pianist (2002) and Inglourious Basterds (2009) to her name, this Oscar nominated designer is a safe choice, in so much as we know she won’t let us down. It is not easy bringing an animated character into the real world. After all Maleficent’s memorable cape and robes costume was never intended to be rendered in this way (many cosplayers have tried with varying degrees of success).

What little we see in this trailer falls mainly to Maleficent, though never a clear wide shot, and Aurora, (Elle Fanning), the object of her obsession, wearing a medieval inspired green wool dress. Most notable is the thick trim of fur on Jolie’s costume around the neckline. It is a wintry, luxurious touch that makes Maleficent seem cold and remote, yet oddly lavish and desirable too. Her horns hat looks to be made of latex, or some variant. No glimpse of purple at the moment. This footage is mainly about setting tone, which is dark to say the least, so hopefully we’ll get a better view of the costumes when someone switches on a light for a full trailer in the future.

Maleficent is released on 30th May 2014.