Hollywood Popular Artists

May 4th 2012, 17:56

It's been a busy week for Sharlto Copley. After being officially confirmed as the villain in "Oldboy" yesterday, we've now just found out that he's in talks to star in another big budget adaptation.

Deadline is reporting that Copley is in talks to play King Stefan, the father of Aurora, in Disney's upcoming "Sleeping Beauty" retelling, "Maleficent." Though the character didn't have that big of a role in Disney's animated take on the tale, our guess is that he will come a bit more front and center in this film, perhaps in a way similar to Sean Bean's role as the king in "Mirror, Mirror."

What a big role for a man who only broke out as an actor on the Hollywood scene three years ago! Starring opposite Angelina Jolie is big step up from Neill Blomkamp's critical darling "District 9." Jolie is set to play the title role in "Maleficent" while Elle Fanning has been circling the role of Aurora for a couple of months. Robert Stromberg will direct the project.

This has been a busy year for Copley already. He's shipping off to Hungary to shoot Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego's thriller "Open Grave," and then has "Oldboy" to worry about. He's already wrapped the sci-fi thriller "Europa" and Blomkamp's sophomore effort "Elysium." Needless to say, Copley has a big few years coming up.

Written by Paul Dini and Linda Woolverton, "Maleficent" tells the classic "Sleeping Beauty" story from the point of view of its villain, and explains why Maleficent wanted to curse Princess Aurora to begin with. It's set for a March 14, 2014 release date.

Are you intrigued by Copley's casting? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!

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