It has been more than a year since it was first announced that Tim Burton would be taking up a live-action rendition of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty villainess, Maleficent. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has word that Burton has stepped away from the project and that Disney is looking for a new director.
The film, drafted by Alice in Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton, tentatively has Angelina Jolie attached to play the lead, retelling the 1959 animated film from the point of view of Maleficent.
Though far from a lock, The Hollywood Reporter suggests that David Yates, the director of the last three “Harry Potter” films, may be on the studio’s short list to helm.
Burton, meanwhile, has a number of project lined up for him, including the upcoming stop-motion Frankenweenie at Disney and the television adaptation Dark Shadows at Warner Bros.
