Production Designer Robert Stromberg to Direct Disney’s ‘Maleficent’

After director Tim Burton fell away from the gestating revisionist take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale in the form of Maleficent with Angelina Jolie playing the evil witch in Disney’s animated classic, other names like Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell were said to be interested in the project. However, it will be an untested director stepping up to helm the feature as Deadline reports production designer Robert Stromberg is now set to sit in the director’s chair. While you may not know his name, you certainly know his work on films like Avatar, Burton’s Alice in Wonderlandand Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Jolie is still attached to the long gestating project, and much like Snow White and the Huntsman, there’s a big risk in bringing in a first-time director for a different take on a classic fairytale brought to life by Disney decades ago. Of course, with …