The shape-shifting South African actor on Maleficent, Angelina Jolie and Chappie.

It was the kind of acting that I liked.

So Ive never done a role as myself, ever.

Its doing a radically different something else.

I need to feel something in the role.

Certainly as an actor you should probably hang onto humanity in your actions even if it is a film.

you better have a reason why this guy would behave this way.

And I had that the whole way through the film.

The villain still needs to be the villain.

In this case love saves Maleficent and doesnt save Stefan.

But from an acting point of view its critical to have sympathy yourself for the character.

Otherwise you cant do it.

What does that mean?

I mean do you have enough when you have enough money?

When do you have enough power?

When do you have enough houses?

When have you slept with enough women?

You could just keep going, you know.

And Id be very surprised if they can answer you.

Which in itself tells you something.

That is what Stefan is playing a, that male driving thing that goes out of control.

Its a metaphorical version of that, you know.

Will he betray his true love to get the power that hes always wanted?

Hes prepared to do that.

The original roots of theSleeping Beautystory go back as far as 1527.

How far back does the king appear and did you look back any of that material?

I read through two.

And then there was the Brothers Grimm version.

It was just out of curiosity.

Angie was just fantastic to work with.

Id do it again in a second.

In terms of just when we were working on the set it was just two actors.

The whole thing that comes with stardom.

How did you end up getting this part?

I still wasnt really sure if Id heard it.

Because I think we recognized something in each other.

And she does that so masterfully in this film.

I always felt this would be a very cool sort of chemistry to watch happening.

Wed shoot and theyre animating over me and painting out sections that they need to make the robot.

Theres no eyes to express with.

And its very different fromDistrict 9andElysium?

People are describing it as a comedy.

Its very similar to how we didDistrict 9.

As Simon says, its a truly unique film.

Maleficentis out in theaters Friday, May 30.

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