Archeology/Science-oriented film reviews are always in an unfinished state, updating, super long article warning. As a Disney fan, it is actually difficult to rate this movie, because the labels of this movie's "live-action remake", "sequel", "subversive plot" and "Disney fairy tale theme" make this movie's evaluation criteria too diverse, and this It also involves controversy over Disney's overall direction in recent years, so I tend to do more objective things like popular science.
Disney's launch of "Sleeping Beauty 2" on the 60th anniversary of the release of the "Sleeping Beauty" animated film must have been intentional. This article is mainly about the original story of "Sleeping Beauty in the Forest"-the animated film "Sleeping Beauty"-"Sleeping Beauty" The development process of "The Curse" series of live-action movies. Introduce the past and present of this series. Based on various materials, this article introduces the history of the story of "Sleeping Beauty" in literature, music, dance, movies, and some details of the later "Sleeping Beauty" series. (If you are not interested in parts other than Disney, please skip to the third part)
In 1697, French writer Charles Perrault published a collection of folktales: "Stories from those old times" (Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé), which has a more famous subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose (Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oye) is "The Story of Mother Goose" (the name will be used to refer to the work in the following). This set of stories contains a story called "Sleeping Beauty in the Forest" (La Belle au bois dormant), this story tells the story of a king and queen who baptized their daughter, and an uninvited witch cursed their daughter. This story is full of very strange elements: the cursed spinning wheel, A jungle of thorns and a hundred years of sleep have fascinated readers for centuries.
In this everlasting Sleeping Beauty story, many "storytellers" have been influenced at the same time, including writers, painters, poets, composers, choreographers and producers. For example, the Victorian British poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote a poem (Chapter 4 in The Day Dream. The Sleeping Beauty in Lovers) to describe a "a perfect form in perfect rest" girl. The ballet of the same name arranged by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1890. Perhaps there is a most beloved interpretation of this story: Walt Disney's classic animated film "Sleeping Beauty" in 1959.
The animated film "Sleeping Beauty" was the pinnacle of Walt Disney Studios' aesthetic achievements at the time. It showed the growth and development of the animators who participated in the animated feature films "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella". The breakthrough also shows a risky departure from the existing visual style of movies of the same type. Like Eyvind Earle’s embroidered tapestries in the Renaissance style, MarcDavis’s art nouveau princess, Milt Kahl’s fashionable but manly prince, and the energetic and comical fairies of Frank Thomas and Ollie Jhnston. Godmother, the impressively gorgeous villain of Davis. All this contributed to "Sleeping Beauty" which will continue to influence the creations of Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks animators.
Part 1: La Belle au bois dormant, the sleeping beauty in the forest
The combination of beautiful princesses, gorgeous princes, and "True Love Conquer All Evil" makes the story of "Sleeping Beauty" one of people's favorite fairy tales, "Prince and Sleeping Princess" the theme of fairy tales It has appeared in different cultures. The most well-known version is "Sleeping Beauty in the Forest" in Charles Perrault's "The Story of Mother Goose".
In the original story, the king and queen who longed to have a child gave birth to a daughter, so they invited all fairies in the kingdom to participate in the baptism of their daughters and presented them with various valuable treasures. In return, the fairies gave them This child has such virtues as beauty, charm, and musical talent.
But there was a fairy who was not invited. In Charles Perrault’s story, this was because the fairy was too old and lived in a very remote place. People thought she was dead. As a result, the fairy attended the baptism without being invited and brought her "gift"-the princess would be stabbed to death by a needle on the spinning wheel. Fortunately, a young fairy was aware of the old fairy’s conspiracy in advance, and kept hiding at the ceremony until the old fairy gave a "gift" before showing up, came out from behind the tapestry, and used the curse of changing the old fairy as her Gift: The princess will not die, she will only sleep for a hundred years until a prince wakes her up.
Anxious to protect the princess, the king destroyed all the spinning wheels in the kingdom. Even so, one day, the princess found an old woman spinning thread with a spinning wheel in the attic of the castle. The princess had never seen anything like this before. Out of curiosity, she just Fingers were pierced by a spinning wheel and fell asleep.
The young fairy who changed the curse realizes that if the princess wakes up a hundred years later and finds the castle empty. So the fairy waved her magic wand, causing all the living creatures in the castle to fall asleep. At the same time, within a quarter of an hour, intertwined trees, shrubs, vines, and thorns spread around the castle, enclosing the castle impermeably, and only the high tower of the castle can be seen. Anyone who tries to pass through this magical jungle will eventually be trapped in it and die in pain. Only after the princess has slept for a full hundred years, the curse is lifted, the jungle will allow a prince to pass through.
In modern interpretation of the story, the prince usually awakens the princess with a kiss, but in Charles Perrault’s version, the prince just kneels by the princess’s bed and awakens the princess. When the prince helps the princess get up, the princess opens his eyes. He asked gently, "Is it really you? Prince, I have been waiting for you." In this story, Charles Perrault cleverly avoided the question that the prince would say, "The style of clothes she wears is as old as my grandmother's clothes". Finally the prince and princess got married naturally.
Charles Perrault’s story seems to be based on the "Sun, Moon and Thalia" in the story "Five Days" written by Giambattista Basile in the early seventeenth century. The latter It is borrowed from the legendary "Perceforest" (Perceforest) of the Arthurian period in the 14th century. The Grimm brothers were researching that the version of the story they discovered was influenced by the story of Brunhild sleeping in a magical flame in Scandinavian mythology (this is used in Wagner's "Ring of Nibelung". One element)
Folklorists have discovered that this kind of story of the prince awakening the princess and marrying it has existed from Ireland to India to Gabon. In some of these versions, the prince was originally married, but still married the awakened princess. There are several stories in which the prince conceives the sleeping princess, and the child sucks the princess’s finger to awaken the princess.
Charles Perrault and other authors added a terrible second half to the story: the prince’s mother was a descendant of an ogre, and the prince’s father, the king, married the ogre simply because of desire Her wealth. After the king's death, the ogre queen ordered a butcher to kill the princess and her children and sacrifice them to the queen. However, the butcher deceived the queen and did not kill them. Instead, he roasted the baby goat with delicious sauce and offered it to the queen. The queen satisfied that it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
When the queen realized that she had been fooled, she was about to throw the butcher and his family into a pit full of snakes, toads and other poisonous insects. But the prince arrived in time at the critical moment and saved the butcher's family. At this time, the queen was dazzled by resentment and frustration, and fell into the pit. The prince felt sad because "it was his mother after all", but soon, he comforted his conscience with the rescue of his wife and children.
Many fairy tales have a dark ending: in "Snow White", the evil queen finally puts on red iron shoes and dances to death. At Cinderella's wedding, the black bird pecked the eyes of Cinderella's sisters. In some versions of "Beauty and the Beast", Belle's sisters become statues and are forced to witness Belle's happy life until they repent.
In the Brazilian version, the prince’s first wife wanted to feed the prince’s children to the prince in order to avenge the prince’s preference for Sleeping Beauty. But Charpero slyly turned the story to another story, grafting it bluntly at the end of the first story. In "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fariy Tales", psychologist Bruno Bettelheim noticed, "Charpero’s story has been reduced to two parts where two bulls’ heads are wrong: the first part is The prince awakens Sleeping Beauty and marries her; the next part is that the mother of "Prince Charming" is actually an ogre who eats children..."
Charperot's story was first translated into English in Robert Samberd1's "Histories, or Tales of Past Times," in 1729, and was subsequently translated into various language versions.
Countless writers and artists have re-created the first half of Charpero's story, and there are many outstanding figures in the nineteenth century. The editor and publisher CS Evan prepared a story that matched the content of the illustration for the illustration of the famous artist Arthur Rackham in 1900. Designer, artist, and writer Will Ian Morris wrote several poems to correspond to his friend, the Briar Rose series of poems by former Raphaelite painter Edward Brune-Jones from 1890 to 1895.
The Legend of Briar Rose group painting and William Morris's accompanying text one:
"The fateful slumber floats and flows About the tangle of the rose; But lo! the fated hand and heart To rend the slumberous curse apart!" —— William Morris
The Legend of Briar Rose group painting and William Morris's accompanying text two:
Here lies the hoarded love, the key To all the treasure that shall be; Come fated hand the gift to take And smite this sleeping world awake." —— William Morris
Victorian poet laureate Alfred and Lord Tennyson wrote two poems about the sleeping princess.
Contrary to these romantic versions, Nobel Prize winner Anatole France launched the satirical "The Story of the Duchess of Cicogne and of Monsieur de Boulingrin" in 1920. In this bitter and mean story, the evil fairy was not invited to the baptism banquet because she was not noble enough by her birth.
Many critics in recent years have complained about the passiveness of the characters, especially the heroine. Just like Snow White who bit a poisoned apple, Sleeping Beauty can't do anything strictly until the prince comes to rescue her. Other commentators found that the prince himself was only a little more proactive. The reason why he was able to travel through the jungle where the spell was cast was not because of his strength and bravery, but simply because he chose the right time. Those knights who tried to enter before the spell was cast for a hundred years were all swallowed by the forest. I have to say that the prince is very lucky.
Bruno Bettelheim argued that the negativity of the characters in the original work is what makes this story particularly valuable in the highly developed twentieth century: "It is the'Sleeping Beauty' that is old enough, so this story can give today's young people a lesson. The more important message. That is the fear of young people and their parents about the quietly coming growth, because people tend to set goals for the visible. "Sleeping Beauty" tells one such truth: long periods of stillness, Contemplation, focusing on oneself often leads to achievement"
From the perspective of female puberty growth, we can regard the princess’s deep sleep as a “necessary stage of growth”. Just after a hundred years, the prince married the Sleeping Beauty without experiencing many challenges, which is surprising. However, the central theme of this story is a hundred years of sleep and "expiry". This one hundred years is a metaphor, it is the time for the princess to wait in the depths of her heart and grow up in wisdom. It is not difficult to see that it is a kind of "waiting" for the person who meets for the first time to say "Is it really you?" "Expiry".
However, Charpero wrote the conclusion of the story in his notes: Women must learn to wait for the arrival of a rich, handsome, brave, and gentle husband, but I am afraid not many young women know that this husband is going to sleep on their own. It will take a hundred years to arrive at this thing and then you can fall asleep peacefully.
Part Two: St. Petersburg in 1890
During the 18th and 19th centuries, artists tended to bring fairy tales to the stage. For example, in 1757, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont published the most famous "Beauty and the Beast" story in France. 14 years later, French composer André Grétry's comedy opera (Opéra comique) "Zémire et Azor" based on this story was a huge success. Similarly, the magic of "Sleeping Beauty" has attracted many composers. Italian composer Michele Carafa (1825), British playwright James Planche (1840), German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (1902), French composer Maurice Ravel (1910) each created an appointment or a play involving this subject. Of course, this story is best known, and the most beloved way of musical interpretation is of course ballet-by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky), Marius Petipa (Maurice Petipa), Ivan Vsevolozhsky ( Ivan Vsevoloysky) A masterpiece created by these three geniuses. This project started with Ivan Vsevoloysky, the director of the Royal Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia. He approached Tchaikovsky to discuss the creation of a ballet based on Perot’s fairy tales, including some other fairy tale characters. Compose by Tchaikovsky and choreographed by Petiba. Tchaikovsky did not hesitate to accept the commission, even though his first ballet "Swan Lake" was not successful when it premiered. Tchaikovsky’s script is based on the translation of the Brothers Grimm. The German translation of Perot’s "Sleeping Beauty in the Forest", that is, the final ending is that the entire court wakes up after 100 years of sleep to celebrate the Sleeping Beauty Princess. wedding. At the same time, Vsevoloysky also wrote the characters that Perot created and appeared in other stories, such as the cat in boots and the little red riding hood, and so on. And Tchaikovsky also expressed to Vsevoloysky that his creative process was very pleasant and he had enough inspiration to complete the work.
The three artists finally created a four-hour "fairy ballet", including a grand finale that was as grand and prosperous as the court of Louis XIV. But this work lacks a continuity of narrative that Russian audiences at the time expected. "Sleeping Beauty" premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 3, 1890. The audience's feedback was very bad for the first time: the comments condemned the music as being too "symphonic" and not suitable for dance. The audience complained about the French style, the theme of fairy tales and " The lack of choreography. Some critics claim that Charperot’s story is not suitable for ballet adaptation at all. Obviously, the first audiences of "Sleeping Beauty" reacted indifferently, even though St. Petersburg newspapers reported both the bad reviews of "Sleeping Beauty" and the lace news that the leading actress of "Sleeping Beauty" received flowers and jewelry from admirers. Even if the first reaction was not satisfactory, "Sleeping Beauty" quickly found an audience who would appreciate it. "Sleeping Beauty" has been relaunched many times, usually in cut-down versions subject to budget. Sergei Diaghilev created a gorgeous adaptation: The Sleeping Princess. It was performed by Ballets Russes in London in 1921. Although it was of great artistic value, the ballet received mediocre response and made ends meet, which brought Sergei Diaghilev an economy. disaster. Three years later, Nicolai Vinogradov of Monumental Theater tried to create a "Marxist" version of the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet. One of the scenes is described as follows:" In the red light and red flag, Princess Aurora, the fate of the world At dawn, I woke up. "Fortunately, this play was never staged.
Marius Petipa's choreographic design was constantly changed and replaced in subsequent editions. However, most of it was retained in the remake of Mariinsky Theatre on April 30, 1999.
The delicate and elegant melody of "Sleeping Beauty" has earned Tchaikovsky a place in various symphony performances. The story of "Sleeping Beauty" is also well-known to music lovers, including Walt Disney. Disney said, "From the early At the beginning of the animation, music is always in an extremely prominent position in our works. I can't imagine what the picture of the story would be without the matching of music. The theme of music always appears first, suggesting a way to deal with the story. Chai Ke That’s how Wowski’s music in "Sleeping Beauty" is, and this influence ultimately shaped the way we use expression in classic animation."
Part Three: White Jade Slightly Flaws-Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"
"What we want out of this is a moving illustration.
I don't care how long it takes"-Walt Disney told the crew
Following the "Miss and the Tramp", Disney will launch another widescreen work-"Sleeping Beauty". The film was high hopes at first, but the work almost became a disaster in the end. Fortunately, Arlo later belonged to the "Disney Princess" brand and did not suffer a forgotten fate.
As the third fairy tale novel after "Snow White" and "Cinderella" (feature films based on fairy tales, the original "Pinocchio" The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) is a novel, not a fairy tale) "Sleeping Beauty" Among the three films, it is the most delicate and meticulous one. "Snow White" shows the artist's pioneering exploration of the charm of a new carrier (color feature film), and "Cinderella" shows 13 years later. The maturity and stability of the artists. What makes the first two incomparable is the pure visual richness in "Sleeping Beauty."
Disney artists encountered many challenges when adapting the plot, characters, and the plot of the original story. The story team found that this story needs to be constantly revised to fit an animated film. "After the princess wakes up, she married a man who broke into her bedroom" is too strange, so the story team joins the "Boy-meet-girl" plot common in youth romantic comedies in the 1950s. Moreover, a prince far younger than the princess seems to destroy the romance of the story, even if the princess does not age in sleep. So the story team reduced the heroine's sleep from a hundred years to one night. However, the absence of the princess during the climax of the story cannot be avoided. For many viewers, the absence of the heroine after half of the story is the biggest disappointment in the movie.
It took a lot of manpower and material resources to shape the image of the seven dwarfs in "Snow White". So Disney artists reduced the twelve good fairies in the original book to three. The artists also portrayed the role of Marlene Fissen, who is completely different from the "shrinking old woman" in the original book. The image of Marlene Fissen is close to the evil warlock in fantasy literature. She is beautiful, ruthless, cruel, conceited, powerful, and has one of the most threatening traits as a villain-superior intelligence. The inspiration for Marc Davis when designing this character originally came from a Renaissance painting in which a woman wears a headpiece that looks like a horn. In the process of continuous improvement of the design by Marc Davis, he added a robe with toothed edges to the character, which looked like it was surrounded by flames. The most important thing about this character is that she will not have too many movements. Marc Davis understands this: "Marlene Fissen is a problem. She is basically a speaker: she just stood there and talked directly to other characters. Such an image is very difficult, we make her look like a A bat in a robe to strengthen the sense of drama." Even with limited playing time, Marlene Fissen has undoubtedly become the dominant role in "Sleeping Beauty."
Walt Disney chose Eyvind Earle to design the background for the film and at the same time gave him creative freedom to achieve the "moving illustration" effect that Walt Disney expected. Eyvind Earle's wide shadow style can be traced back to medieval tapestries and early Renaissance paintings, as well as a touch of Persian miniature and Japanese prints. He created a flat and detailed world completely different from "Snow White" and "Cinderella".
The characters in the film are also specially combined for these backgrounds. Tom Oreb has undertaken a lot of character design work, and Marc Davis and Milt Kahl have undertaken the animation parts of Arlo and Prince Philip respectively. In order to integrate the characters into the world created by Eyvind Earle, Tom Oreb made these characters look more upright than traditional Disney characters. At the same time emphasize a contrast between straight lines and curves. His line drafts reflect a slender and slender feeling, which is different from the early images of young girls like Audrey Hepburn. The edges and corners of the character's outline are "softened" by the curly hair and shawl. Marc Davis intensifies this line contrast in the animation.
The roles of Marc Davis and Milt Kahl are the most difficult, so that whenever an artist complains that his work in "Sleeping Beauty" is too difficult, Walt Disney will pause and respond: "Well, in this case, you You can draw the prince’s animation!” In the past, the animations of realistic characters always fell on the shoulders of Marc Davis and Milt Kahl. They joked that because of their excellent painting skills, they finally "reduced" to only these realistic paintings. Hero and heroine. At the same time, I envy those animators who draw "clown" and "follower" characters-because these characters can bring laughter to the audience. Davis explained: “The protagonist takes on your entire story. If the protagonist can’t convince you, it’s meaningless to make a comedy character. It’s very interesting to create a comedy character, and it’s very interesting to see the audience laugh in the theater because of this character. An unparalleled sense of accomplishment. But if the audience reacts coldly to the prince and princess, all their efforts will be in vain."
Composer George Brun adapted Tchaikovsky's music to the film's soundtrack. When the fairies bake birthday cakes for Arlo, make skirts, and clean the cabin, the background music is based on the silver fairy theme (The Sleeping Beauty, Op.66, TH.13 / Act 3-21. Variation II – The Silver Fairy ) Changed
Original song link:
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=470778395
Animation soundtrack: Magical House Cleaning / Blue or Pink
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1420979
After the Sleeping Beauty wakes up, the music used by Arlo and the prince into the celebration is from the finale of the ballet (Sleeping Beauty Op. 66, Act III:'The Wedding': Apotheosis (Andante molto maestoso))
Original song: https://music.163.com/#/song?id=22527487
Animation soundtrack: Awakening
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1421016
The music used by Marlene Fissen to lure Sleeping Beauty to the spindle is adapted from the theme of cats in boots (The Sleeping Beauty Op.66-Suite: Pas de Caractère (Puss in Boots) (Act 3)), given to this piece by George Brun The echo effect of "Calling Aurora" has been added to synchronize with the performance of the instrument.
Original song: https://music.163.com/#/song?id=473291644
Animation soundtrack: Aurora's Return / Maleficent's Evil Spell
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1420993
Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence were responsible for the lyrics. They added lyrics to the modified version of the most famous waltz ( The Sleeping Beauty, Suite, Op.66a: Valse ) in the most ballet , which became "Once upon a Dream"
Original song link: https://music.163.com/#/song?id=403767257
Animation song: An Unusual Prince / Once Upon A Dream
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1420976
Composer George Brun put another waltz melody, (The Sleeping Beauty (Ballet), Op. 66, TH 13, Act 2 Scene 1: No. 15, Pas d'action, (a) Entrée de l'apparition d'Aurore -(b) Grand adage-(c) Valse des nymphes-Petit allégro coquet //// Aurore et Florimund (Andante cantabile)) used in "I Wonder"
Link to the original song (starts at 3 minutes and 20 seconds, the same as the beginning melody of Apotheosis): https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1314543526
Animation song: Do You Hear That / I Wonder
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1420973
Unfortunately, the biggest problem with "Sleeping Beauty" is the lack of input from Walt Disney. When "Sleeping Beauty" was officially put into production, Walt Disney was busy shooting live-action movies such as "Seal Island" and "The Living Desert." Objectively speaking, the success of "20000 League Under the Sea" and "Davy Crockett" gave Disney a place among real-life filmmakers. At the same time, Disney began to try to develop a new medium: TV channels. At that time, many film studios regarded TV shows as a threat to the film industry. Disney uses TV commercials to raise funds for his important idea, Disneyland. ABC TV is one of the first investors in Disneyland. In the fall of 1954, the construction of Disneyland officially began in Anaheim, California: two months later, the news of "Disneyland" was broadcast on ABC, which was a very useful way of publicity. Disneyland officially opened in July 1955. On October 3 of the same year, "Mickey Mouse Club" was broadcast on ABC. (The young actor who participated in the recording of this show has a title: Mouseketeer, one of whom is the voice of the young prince in "Sleeping Beauty")
Success in the above-mentioned areas has transformed Disney's studio into a larger and more diverse company. At the end of the 1940s. Walt Disney complained that the studio always focused on "the success of the next animated feature film." Expansion of the company's business scope is indeed conducive to enhancing the company's stability, but this reduces the company's most important thing-the importance of animation production.
During the production of "Sleeping Beauty," Walt Disney was always worried about other things. As a result, he often ignored the production of "Sleeping Beauty" for several weeks. As a result, the genius and creativity that Disney used to create the original story was absent in "Sleeping Beauty". In this way, "Sleeping Beauty" was costly. It took 6 years to complete the production. In January 1959, "Sleeping Beauty" was released in theaters, but it seemed to disappoint the audience. Most of the media's evaluation of "Sleeping Beauty" was not high. Although the role of Marlene Fissen is very exciting, it also reflects the fact that the hero and the heroine of the film are only equivalent to two symbols , and they easily disappear from the background of the film. (This also paved the way for "Maleficent" to focus on Maleficent, ignoring the princess and prince. Disney's lack of input made this movie unable to achieve the same look and feel as "Snow White" and "Cinderella". At the box office, after removing various costs, "Sleeping Beauty" eventually brought Disney a million dollars in loss. "Sleeping Beauty", like "Fantasia", did not achieve commercial success at the time. Fortunately, the video tapes and DVDs of the later "Sleeping Beauty" were widely acclaimed. In 1990, Arlo, as a member of the "Disney Princess" brand, proved very successful in the merchandise launched.
Like "Fantasia", "Sleeping Beauty" is considered a flawed animation masterpiece. Its plot is not as exciting as "Pinocchio", and its characters are not as innocent and emotional as "Snow White". The resonance is not as good as "Dumbo" and "Bambi". However, it is still a victory for animation art. Disney's animation studio is like a Renaissance workshop. The emphasis on learning, research, experimentation, and continuous modification and improvement is the key to Disney's victory.
In an interview in 1979 when "Sleeping Beauty" was re-released, Eric Larson, the sequence director of "Sleeping Beauty", was interviewed: "What would happen if a budget equivalent to three times that of the time was given to remake this movie? "(In a sentence) Eric Larson paused and replied: "But even if you have the money, where can you find people who are like the geniuses at the time? The crew at the time were all top-notch , And their animation is close to the perfect state you want. Since 1934, we have created a world of work, research, and pursuit of perfection with Walt Disney’s brushes. Today’s animators just don’t have this Experience. There has never been such a time before, and there will never be again."
Part 4: Subversion or inheritance? ——Remake of "Slumbering Curse" series (to be continued)
When I was a little girl, Marlene Fissen was my favorite Disney character: I was afraid of her, and at the same time I loved her. When I heard that there was going to be a "Marlene Fissen" movie, I started to inquire about it; then someone approached me and asked if I was interested in participating in this movie. I replied without even reading the script: "Absolutely interested!" Someone asked, "How can you make a story about someone cursing a baby?" I said yes, even if I don't believe them (Disney) Can solve this contradiction, but they did it. ——Angelina Jolie
Early background:
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, American writers and artists became keen to re-examine those popular cultural symbols and began to explore the dark side of heroes and the deep-seated motives of villains. Frank Miller's comic "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" in the hellish Gotham City brooding Bruce Wayne is completely different from the straight-and-forward hero of 1940. Gregory Maguire's novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) was adapted into the Broadway musical "Wicked" in 2003, and it has lasted forever.
Around the time "Wicked" premiered in New York, the artists at Disney Animation Studios were conceiving a movie about the background experience of the villain. Don Hahn, the producer of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Beauty and the Beast," and "The Lion King" recalled: "I probably heard about Maleficent in 2003 or 2004. "At that time, the film should be an animated feature film or a film combining real-life and animation." Don Han had two projects that he wanted to promote, "Frankenstein" and "Sleeping Curse". When "Joyful World" was staged in London's West End in 2004, Don Han told Tim Burton of the ideas for these two films in London. Tim Burton took over the "Frankenstein" project. As for "Sleeping Curse", an episode happened: Don Han showed Tim Burton a picture of Marc Davis in "Sleeping Beauty". The drawing of Lin Feisen's character was snatched by Tim Burton and fixed on his wall. Don Hahn quipped that he exchanged a drawing for a director.
What Don Han didn’t notice was that Sean Bailey, an independent producer at the time, was also considering making a movie about Marlene Fissen. He mentioned it at lunch with Angelina Jolie’s agent. This project received news that Julie was interested in three hours later. Sean Bailey shared this idea with Disney executives, who suggested that his project be merged with Don Han's project into one. Don Han and Sean Bailey were working on two identical projects, and at the time they were unaware of the existence of each other. Don Han said, "I am very grateful to Sean Bailey for bringing us Angelina Jolie to bring the project to the ground. I brought a lot of drawings and Tim Burton. From then on, we began to work together on this project."
In 2006, Disney completed the acquisition of Pixar, which caused a change in the leadership of the animation department. The project of Maleficent was changed from an animated feature film to a live-action movie in 2006. The project of "Maleficent" was put on hold during 2006-2010. Because Tim Burton and screenwriter Linda Woolverton were involved in the project of "Alice in Wonderland" and were unable to take care of "Maleficent", Sean Bailey was later assigned to supervise Disney's live-action film department, and then "Maleficent" was restarted. Linda Woolverton started the screenwriting of Maleficent, but Tim Burton chose to direct Frankenstein and Dark Shadows instead of Maleficent.
Robert Stromberg, who just won the Oscar for Best Art Director through "Avatar", provided a lot of help to the project. He also participated in films such as "Alice in Wonderland", "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", and he was appointed as "Sleep." The director of "The Curse".
Plot:
People like the villain Marlene Fissen because of her beauty, wisdom, and good calculation, but the nature, inner thoughts, and origins of this character are all a mystery. In recent years, people have been creating origin stories like "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns". Don John wants to make "Maleficent" into a work like "Wcked" and "The Dark Knight Returns". It means having to come up with the background and origin story of Marlene Fissen.
At the San Diego Comic con, the news that Linda Woolverton was in charge of the screenwriter of "Maleficent" was first released. At that time, Linda Woolverton was still working on the screenwriting of "Alice in Wonderland". Linda Woolverton has worked closely with Don Han since the "Beauty and the Beast" animated feature film. Linda Woolverton liked Arlo when she was a child but was scared of the role of Marlene Fissen. The main reason why Linda Woolverton is willing to participate in this project is that Marlene Fissen is an elf in this movie, not a witch before.
Linda Woolverton initially focused on introducing the character and explaining the background story of the character's motivation. The biggest challenge was to create a protagonist that would make the audience sympathetic enough so that the audience could understand why the protagonist cursed a baby. Linda Woolverton believes that the main difficulty of this job is to figure out what brought Marlene Fissen into such a situation.
The plot of "Slumbering Curse" was later controversial. Even if Linda Woolverton respects and misses the importance of the original animation of "Sleeping Beauty", she must not worry about the reaction of fans of the original animation to this completely changed plot. "I have to completely bring myself into this role. This is the only thing I need to consider when writing the script. Only in this way can I say to my work,'I hope she can meet the expected results, and I hope she can explain her. Who is it and why is she doing this. "If I had concerns at the beginning, my hands and feet would be restrained and I could not do anything."
Angelina Jolie liked Linda's script very much, and met with Linda to express her opinion: "This script touched me. We all know the story of "Sleeping Beauty" and what happened during the baptism in the story. But we will always I don’t know what happened before. This script is like solving a mystery."
Another place where there is a huge difference with "Sleeping Beauty" is the relationship line. Linda Woolverton replaced the love story of Arlo and Prince Philip with the mother of Marlene Fissen and Arlo when they were raised by three fairies. Female love (the official original is Maternal bond ), Don Han commented on this: "Linda Woolverton's idea is to use parental love instead of the plot of "Prince Charming". There is nothing wrong with male and female love, but our first experience The feeling of'love' usually comes from our parents. This experience shaped our initial understanding of'love'. The highlight of this story is that the theme is rarely placed in fairy tales."
Linda Woolverton added: "Is there any'true love' that is more sincere than parents to children? Love between men and women is intense, entangled, and wonderful. But there is no kind of love that is purer than the love of parents to children."
Basic background settings:
Linda Woolverton changed the story of the Renaissance France set by Eyvind Earle to the Celtic kingdom of Moll. Although this story is indeed a French story, adopting a more primitive Celtic style can make this story even more transcending. In the background setting of Maleficent, the forest is no longer as primitive as in Eyvind Earle, enhancing the sense of order. Of course, this new background setting naturally became Robert Stromberg's task. Production design Gary Freeman originally planned to shoot in the northeastern part of England, but the local climate is not good enough, and in northern Europe in summer, the daytime is very short, which is not conducive to night scene shooting. In the end, the plan of real shooting was abandoned and artificial scenes were adopted. For example, the old trees with close-up shots in the movie are actually made of plastic and foam.
Robert Stromberg, Gary Freeman and other artists did not try to reproduce the Gothic castle in the animated version, but went back to the root and used the ancient Romanesque architecture as a prototype. The team referred to Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France (located on a small island with a monastery). In the past, "Disney Castles" usually had obvious outlines, but the team modified some details to make the castles in the film more realistic, no longer so "fairy tale", and more solid foundations, telling the audience: This is not a magic castle, but with Built of marble and bricks.
Although the movie requires 40 scenes that vary from small to large, only 5% of the scenes are actually real scenes, and the rest are virtual worlds made by computers. The number of digital artists behind the scenes is far greater than the total number of crew members on the scene. Basically there are 500-800 staff from different companies responsible for special effects related work such as motion capture, camera tracking, lighting and rendering, color correction, and animation.
Role & Casting (to be completed)
Angelina Jolie’s initiative to invite Yingying has played a great role in advancing the production of the film. She fully met the requirements of this role, coupled with her own influence, made the role of Marlene Fissen even more eye-catching.
Marlene Fissen is not only an iconic character in Disney animation, but also a supernatural character with rich emotions. Angelina Jolie recalled: "Marlene Fissen must be the hardest role I have ever played. Like many young people, she was passionate about the world when she was young, but she was thrown cold water by reality; she was struggling. In the course of the struggle, I gradually lost my humanity and finally found myself again. Sometimes I play some complicated and interesting roles, but I have never been so complicated. She is a little crazy, full of energy, a little bad, and has a sense of humor. So you can't be sloppy in this kind of role."
Marc Davis followed the animated version of Marlene Fissen Diablo, the crow. Because Linda Woolverton believes that Marlene Fissen "needs to talk to people", Diablo becomes Diaval in the script-the crow Marlene Fissen rescued from the hunter can be turned into various animals by magic. No matter what animal (including human), this character will retain some of the characteristics of crows, so Sam Riley's costume has feather elements, and he wears contact lenses to make his eyes black.
Rather than hate her enemy, the daughter of King Stefan, Maleficent learned to love her. So the producer needs to find an actor who can win the hearts of the "villain" Marlene Fissen and the audience at the same time. Elle Fanning, who started her acting career at the age of three, became a better choice. Personally, her skin tone, hair color, and subtle similarities with the animated heroine make her obviously suitable to play Princess Arlo. Tang Han was immediately attracted to Ai Li's performance in "Super 8", and believed that her beauty and innocence could stand up against Marlene Fissen.
Because she was blond, Elle Fanning had many Disney toys around Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty at home when she was a child, and her parents would buy her Disney princess dresses for these two characters. Elle Fanning liked pink very much. So she prefers Sleeping Beauty in a pink dress between Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. When Robert Stromberg contacted Allie Fanning and took her to Disney’s studio, she didn’t know what movie she was going to make. When told it was a movie related to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, it seemed to her. Every little girl’s dream of a princess has come true.
Julie’s understanding of Arlo’s character is this: "Our character’s relationship is a bit complicated. I cursed her when I met her at the baptism. In the next scene, I told her that I hate her. But when When I saw that she loved nature as much as I was when I was a child, I was shaken. Even though I was trying my best to hate, I couldn't hate her more and more."
Arlo was raised by three fairies, so she knew nothing about her identity. Her world is limited to the cabin and the surrounding kingdom of Mor. Although the fairy is trying his best to take care of her, the kingdom of Moore is her heart. Linda Woolverton thinks Arlo is very confused about her identity, she was raised by three incompetent fairies, she is obviously smarter than these fairies. Arlo is being led to her destiny step by step. She was taken to the kingdom of Mor. When she was in Moore's Kingdom, she was not afraid at all; she had a natural sense of belonging here. Her destiny is calling her
The world of elves
In the animated version, Marlene Fissen and the three fairies are the only supernatural beings. But in "Marlene Fissen" the producers traced back to the world filled with elves, dwarves and other magical creatures that Charpero described. For the scene design Dylan Cole, his team is committed to keeping the world in the classic fairy tale style, but not old-fashioned: for example, red mushrooms and peaked hat elves cannot be used, but the audience can still see this. It's something in fairy tales. So there is such a design idea: in the design of the elves, their abilities and origins are hinted. For example, the appearance of the mushroom wizard directly refers to the various mushrooms in the forest.
The same design idea extends to the tree spirit defending the Kingdom of Mor, integrating the elements of the forest into a creature, so it will naturally be seen that there are some elements of tumory wood. The figure is the same as the ape but the body is huge, with a face. Details of some branches.
The kingdom of the elves needs a unique landmark that not only retains the classic fairy tale sense, but also reflects the transfer of the story to the Celtic region. Although the kingdom of the elves is called "the moors", the scene is closer to the forest than to the highlands of Scotland, making the elves seem closer to nature. The center of their kingdom was originally set as a small island with a giant tree on the island-in line with a fairy tale scene, but the tree elements have been used enough, including Robert Stromberg's previous "Avatar", so The tree was replaced with two boulders, inspired by Stonehenge on the British Isles. These two boulders are carved with runes, referring to the carvings of the Celts and Picts, creating a sense of history and culture of the elves.
Special effects & costumes & props (to be completed)
Dressing Angelina Jolie as a villain like Marlene Fissen requires a clever combination of makeup, clothing, and prostheses. Every day, Julie needs an hour to put on makeup. The makeup artists add nasal pads, silicone cheekbone prosthesis, cosmetics that match her skin tone, and cosmetic contact lenses. Marlene Fissen’s iconic horn is a prop that needs to be carefully crafted. The team of special effects makeup artist Arjen Tuiten who has participated in "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" modeled Julie's head and shoulders. , And then make a suitable horn for her on this basis.
Julie wears it for about 14 hours a day, so the horns are made of lightweight polyurethane resin. For safety reasons, there are magnets on the inside of the corners for fixing; when Julie puts on the pair of corners and bumps into something, the corners will fall off, and even then, the corners will not break.
Another key element-wings are also a big production problem. In the early days, the wings were made with computer CG, but it was a difficult point to make the wings look like they were behind Julie. Special effects artist Carey Villegas came up with such a solution: use Velcro to fix two plastic plates with marking points on Julie's back. Marking points can help locate Julie's position, so that the CG wings can always follow the corresponding position.
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