European premiere · Disney · Rome, October 2019

Maleficent.

For the European premiere of the Disney sequel we built a dark fairytale world — a dragon at the entrance, giant roots, Gothic tombstones. Below, on the red carpet, Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Story

One act

A dragon, the roots,
the red carpet.

Rome, October 2019. Walt Disney Italia organises the European premiere of Maleficent — Mistress of Evil, the sequel to the 2014 film with Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer. The installation has to carry guests inside the world of the film before the screening.

We work towards three atmospheres in succession. At the foyer entrance, a dragon sculpted in the round in fibreglass on a steel armature, blue-grey, eight metres long, suspended in mid-air above the black-and-white chequered floor, wings spread to cover the arch of the vault. On either side, Gothic tombstones in faux stone like a medieval cemetery grave, with autumn leaves scattered around.

Inside the hall, the kingdom of roots: large twisted branches spiralling from floor to ceiling, sculptures in sculpted polyurethane with a grey-green finish, lit with cold blue light from below. On one corridor wall, green shadows of brambles projected, as if the space were being devoured by the evil forest.

For the red carpet, the official premiere photowall — a black silhouette of Maleficent with horn and open wings on the white wall, "DISNEY MALEFICENT MISTRESS OF EVIL · EUROPEAN PREMIERE" in gold lettering, framed by a vault of dry branches interwoven by hand.

A constant technique: fibreglass on a steel armature for the dragon, hand-sculpted expanded polyurethane for the roots and brambles, lime-based faux stone for the Gothic tombstones, real branches knotted by hand on the photowall frame. Everything demountable, transportable in sections from our workshop to the Rome foyer.

The two stars, in dark dark fairy gowns, pose in front of the dragon and the roots for the red carpet photographers. This is the moment when our work makes it into entertainment pages around the world.

Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer posing on the red carpet of the Maleficent European premiere: Jolie in a long black dress on the left, Pfeiffer in midnight-blue velvet on the right, behind them the arch of black sculpted roots and the dragon at the foyer entrance, black-and-white chequered floor, autumn leaves scattered — Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer in front of our set

The Maleficent dragon installed at the foyer entrance: blue-grey sculpture about eight metres long, wings spread suspended above the black-and-white chequered floor, two Gothic tombstones in faux stone on either side like a medieval cemetery grave, autumn leaves scattered on the floor, white foyer ceiling lights above — The dragon at the entrance, suspended above the tombstones

The dragon head-on between the Gothic arcades

Behind the scenes

From the yard
to the red carpet.

From our workshop yard to the foyer of the European premiere in Rome. The roots before they went on stage, and the set installed ready for the guests.

The sculpted root-brambles in our workshops, laid out in the yard before transport to Rome: a giant black-grey sculpture of intertwined branches about five metres long, on the concrete yard of the workshop, behind it bales of yellow expanded polyurethane and the wire mesh fence of the workshop, the Lazio countryside landscape — The roots in the yard, before transport

Close-up detail of the black sculpted roots at the workshop: a sculpture of gnarled, intertwined branches like a surge of brambles, black-anthracite finish, laid horizontally on the yard, behind it the metal fence and the fields of the Lazio countryside — The roots, a close-up of the sculpting

The interior of the European premiere foyer bathed in cold blue light: on the left a large black root-bramble sculpture spiralling from floor to ceiling, behind it green projections of brambles moving across the pale walls, an attendant on the left walking through the space — The interior — roots and projections

The red carpet photowall: white wall with a central black silhouette of Maleficent (pointed horn on her head and wings spread like a bird), gold lettering 'DISNEY MALEFICENT MISTRESS OF EVIL — EUROPEAN PREMIERE' at the top, framed by a vault of dry branches interwoven by hand above the wall — The red carpet photowall

The foyer corridor lined with promotional posters for the film: a series of MALEFICENT MISTRESS OF EVIL panels with a close-up of Angelina Jolie wearing the horn, backlit with cold blue light, dark floor, dark fairytale atmosphere — The film posters along the corridor

Behind the scenes

A dragon, the roots,
one evening.

Premiere scenography lives one night: the evening of the European premiere. Everything we build has to be spectacular at first glance, safe for the passage of the red carpet, and quickly demountable after the screening.

The fibreglass dragon

Eight metres of sculpture in fibreglass on a steel armature, demountable into three sections for transport from our yard to the Rome foyer. A symmetrical profile of branch-bones, wings spread suspended above the floor, a blue-grey finish glazed for the "dark fairytale" tone. The animatronic doesn't move — it's enough that it's there, suspended, against the foyer ceiling.

The root-brambles

The root sculptures are in expanded polyurethane sculpted by hand: knots, interweavings, "surges" of brambles shaped one by one. The finish is black-anthracite with grey-green glazes. From below, the event lighting throws cold blue lights upward — that's the light that makes them evil, a forest devouring the foyer.

The photowall and the real branches

The official photowall has the silhouette of Maleficent in flat black on a white wall, lettering in polished gold, and a vault of real dry branches interwoven by hand above the frame — a piece more of floral composition than of sculpting. It's the detail that closes the set, the fragile natural that balances the monumental sculpted.

~8 m

the length of the dragon suspended above the foyer

1 evening

the duration of the event — assembled and dismantled in two days

2 stars

Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer on our red carpet

Tech sheet

All production data

Type: Scenographic installation for a film premiere · Disney event
Event: Maleficent — Mistress of Evil · European premiere · Rome · October 2019
Client: Walt Disney Italia
Stars on the red carpet: Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer
Iconic piece: The Maleficent dragon sculpted in the round — about eight metres of wingspan, blue-grey fibreglass on a steel armature, suspended above the vaulted arch of the entrance
Other elements: Pair of Gothic tombstones in faux stone · giant roots and brambles invading the space all the way to the ceiling · official red carpet photowall with a frame of dry branches interwoven by hand · backlit film posters along the corridor · autumn leaves scattered on the chequered floor
Techniques: Layered fibreglass on a steel armature for the dragon · hand-sculpted expanded polyurethane for roots and brambles · lime-based faux stone for the tombstones · real branches knotted by hand on the frames · grey-anthracite finish for the dragon, grey-green for the roots
Logistics: Full fabrication in our workshops, demounting in sections, transport and installation in the Rome foyer for the evening of the premiere
Our role: Full realisation of the scenographic installation — from the dragon to the roots, from the tombstones to the red carpet photowall
Second life: Installation dismantled after the evening of the event · dragon and roots stored in our workshops for possible reuse

Second life

One evening
in the press.

The European premiere of Maleficent — Mistress of Evil closes on the evening of 7 October 2019 in Rome with the two stars on the red carpet of the dressed foyer. The photos of Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer in front of our dragon and the photowall end up in film news around the world: international agencies, Getty Images, AP, Reuters. Our work makes it into the press without ever being credited — that's the rule of the red carpet, but also the satisfaction of the craft.

Scenography for film premieres is a specific niche of our work: the piece lasts one evening, but that evening lives in the photos of a whole year of entertainment press. The techniques of sculpting for exhibitions and theming for parks compress here into a single event, with extremely tight delivery times.