It seems there may be a couple of issues with Walt Disney Pictures’s Maleficent, as the House Of Mouse has hired John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) to write new scenes for the upcoming reshoots. He won’t helm the additional material himself, but he is coming on board to help oversee the production with first-time director Robert Stromberg, according to THR.
Producer Joe Roth commented, “We asked him to be on set. He’s not directing. He wrote pages, and I hired a first-time director, and it’s good to have him on set. The movie is gorgeous to look at, and the last 75 minutes are really entertaining. The issue is the opening, which is being reshot over eight days.”
The extra shooting does not include any scenes with star Angelina Jolie, who recently started production on her next directorial effort Unbroken in Australia. Maleficent, a revisionist take on Sleeping Beauty told from the villain’s point of view, is still slated for release on May 30, 2014.
Although reshoots can be a sign of major problems, they’re increasingly being used to iron out kinks, which seems to be what is happening here if Jolie doesn’t need to be involved. It is farily rare to have another director oversee them though. The movie is in cinemas next summer.