Berlin 2012: Disney's 'Maleficent' Will Be Angelina Jolie's Next Starring Role

BERLIN -- Disney's Maleficent will be Angelina Jolie's next movie.

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Jolie, speaking at a crowded news conference Saturday at the Berlin International Film Festival, where her feature directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey is screening out of competition, brought up the project -- without directly mentioning a title -- when asked about the next step in her career.

"I haven't acted in two years, and I haven't done anything else since this [Land of Blood and Honey]. The next thing I am looking at is a Disney movie," said the actress.

Jolie also had been eyeing a Luc Besson movie that had been set to start production in April, but that project appears to be off the table, insiders say. In an interview with THR in December, she suggested she probably couldn't do both, since Maleficent could get under way by the end of this year or early next year.

Maleficent has gained momentum in recent weeks with Robert Stromberg brought on as director. Stromberg was the production designer on Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and Disney's upcoming Oz the Great and Powerful.

Jolie has long been toying with the idea of playing the famous sorceress in the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. In the December interview with THR, she also revealed her children want her to make the movie and even call her "mom-elicent." She's also eager to make a live-action family film after her experience voicing the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

"The best thing to find that balance is to do something that is just for children," Jolie said Saturday. "You know, you find different ways to make things matter. When, for example, you do fun action movies, they are empowering for my daughters."

Jolie told THR in December that she adores screenwriter Linda Woolverton's revisionist take on the fairy tale and the complex relationship between Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty. 

Jolie's Bosnian War drama Blood and Honey was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film.

"Out of all the films I have ever made, it's the one that means the most to me and is the most true to what I believe in and the closest to my heart. It will be very, very hard to do something else," she said.