After breaking out with District 9, and following it up with The A-Team, actor Sharlto Copley has been awfully quiet. 2011 may have been an under the radar year for him but 2012 looks to be much busier. Earlier this week the actor confirmed his involvement in the upcoming Oldboy remake and now we’re hearing from Deadline that he’ll join Angelina Jolie in Maleficent.
Copley will play King Stefan in the film, which will explore “the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Princess Aurora in Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty.”
Though the actor is starting to build a name for himself, he’s still far from a household name and I’m a bit surprised that the studio put him in such a high profile role. Maleficent is set to be a pretty big film and to drop Copley in there must mean that they have a lot of faith in him.
Admittedly, I enjoyed him in District 9, a lot. The A-Team, not so much. But then again, the film itself wasn’t great.
I do love District 9 though and I’m happy to see some high-profile projects being tossed Copely’s way.
As for additional casting, Elle Fanning was rumored for a while but sources seem to think that she’s dropped out.
We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.