Interview with 'Maleficent' Director Robert Stromberg #MaleficentEvent

When I heard that "Maleficent" was the directorial debut for Robert Stromberg, I was taken by surprise. We're not talking about an indie film here— "Maleficent" is big budget from Walt Disney Studios starring the amazingly talented Angelina Jolie. Then I read his resume (aka Robert Stromberg's IMDb). And it all made perfect sense. Robert was was the production designer on "Avatar" (for which he won an Oscar!), "Alice in Wonderland" and "OZ The Great and Powerful". This is in addition to his work as a visual effects artist on nearly 100 other films.

Clearly, Robert Stromberg has the background, talent and vision to take Maleficent from the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale to an epic Hollywood blockbuster. And once you see the film for yourself, I'm sure you'll agree that he has a long future as a director!

Check out my interview with "Maleficent" director Robert Stromberg and let me know if you'll be seeing the movie in theaters this weekend!

This being your first directorial debut, what was different from being on set compared to being in the art department?

I've always wanted to be a director. You know, I used to make movies when I was a little kid, and I was a huge Disney fan. I had an art teacher who was an ex-Disney artist. I used to draw like crazy, images, including Maleficent when I was five, six years old. So I had always wanted to tell stories and be a director.

I got sidetracked by this pesky art direction stuff. But it was part of the journey. I'm glad that I did all that stuff because it prepared me not only being around these big movies but also meeting a lot of great directors. I met Peter Weir and we became close friends on a movie called Master and Commander. And he taught me a lot about how to talk to actors and to get at an emotional level with them. And then I spent four years with Jim Cameron and that was useful in how to be strong when you need to be. And many, many situations, artistic, I worked with Tim Burton and how an artist can direct. It's all, these are all directors but they do it in different ways. So I came into this with a lot of experience.

Was Angelina your first choice for the role of Maleficent or did you write this with her in mind?

She was actually already attached when Disney hired me. They were looking for a director, but she was already engaged with the character —she had wanted to do this character for a long time. So, lucky for me, I didn't have to do much digging on that part. It was sort of this perfectly made, iconic combination that I was blessed to have.

What was the creative process that you used to create the Moors and the characters within them?

Over the years I probably have a file full of just sketches and strange creatures and stuff that you wanna use one day. I always approach a movie with the world itself as a psychological steering device. So, just for instance, at the beginning of this film we start off and it's sort of happy and sunny and everything else. And the the mood of the whole world goes dark with Maleficent and then comes back up again at the end. So I think it's really interesting, not just as a designer, but to create fun things — there's no rule book there. That's what's fun about it is you just do a sketch and oh, this is cool, and three months later it becomes something real.

What was the most difficult thing to bring to the big screen for this film?

You know, it's just getting through the film and still carrying a big, beating heart under your arm as you make it through this jungle. Someone once told me, directing is like painting in a hurricane. And it's true. I can't pick one thing that was challenging because just making a movie at this scale, you're juggling, you know, just constantly juggling chainsaws and, and trying to draw pretty pictures at the same time. I think the challenge is to make it, bring all these huge elements together, and at the end of all that, have something with a heart and soul and emotion and something that means something.

I'm always amazed at how movies get made at all, you know. There's so many pieces that have to come together that it's really a fascinating process. I'm still fascinated even though I've been doing this for twenty-eight years. I'm still as fascinated today as I was when I was five years old.

Did you have creative license to deviate from the script?

Linda Woolverton wrote the script. I think we would deviate from that based on -- a lot of times when you're in the moment, it looks better on paper than it does when you're actually seeing how two characters are reacting to each other, or how a scene plays out. I think, part of what you learn as a director is how to adapt in a situation and understand that something is just not right and to adjust it so that it is.

I've always told people that whether I'm doing a painting, which is a composition, compositional rhythm, or music is its own rhythm, a dialog can be a rhythm too. And if it's off, if one inflection is off slightly you have to recognize that because it, it makes a huge difference emotionally in how you're supposed to feel watching it.

For more exclusive MALEFICENT coverage, be sure to check out my interview with Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Elle Fanning as Aurora, and Sharlto Copley as King Stephan.