How Angelina Jolie relates to Maleficent’s insecurities as a mother in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, sequel to 2014 Disney hit
- Actress says she relates to the misunderstood villainess as a parent because ‘a lot of good moms question whether or not they’re good enough’
- Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer also star in new film, described as a tale about complex women
Maleficent is many things Angelina Jolie is not: a flame-throwing fairy, an orphaned outcast, a winged warrior. But the Maleficent: Mistress of Evil star can relate to her title character on some level, especially when it comes to motherhood.
“Where she fails is that she doesn’t believe in herself,” Jolie told reporters at the Disney sequel‘s Hollywood premiere at El Capitan Theatre. “She doesn’t believe that she’s a good mom. She doesn’t see herself as a mom. But I think I questioned, when I was first a mother, whether I was good enough. And I think that a lot of good moms question whether or not they’re good enough. And I think that there’s nothing wrong with that.”
It may come as a surprise that Jolie, a mother of six – and who also brought to life Maleficent: Mistress of Evil as a producer – ever doubted her nurturing capabilities.
But in the Disney franchise’s latest instalment, Maleficent faces similar anxieties, afraid she might lose her newly engaged goddaughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) to heartbreak and nefarious forces. The tale is a complex portrait of a woman – actually, three women, when you include Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer.
“There are many different types of strength represented for women in this film,” Jolie says. “It’s not just the strength of a fighter. It’s the strength of a tactician in Michelle, and a leader. It’s the strength of a mother and wife – mother-to-be and wife – in someone like Elle, who is soft, and her strength is in her heart and her softness … all of these things are different aspects of women. We’re very complicated.”