Director Robert Stromberg just took a major step forward in assembling his cast for Disney’s live-action fantasy Maleficent.  Angelina Jolie is already set as the titular lead in this retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale from the villain’s point of view, and we recently learned that District 9 star Sharlto Copley had joined the cast as the male lead.  Now it appears that Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Kenneth Cranham (Hot Fuzz), Sam Riley (On the Road), and Lesley Manville (Another Year) have been added to the roster.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: Variety adds that India Eisley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) will play a younger version of Jolie's character in the opening sequence of the film.]

Production is set to begin next week on the untitled international suspense thriller starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall, and Working Title has announced a few additions to the cast.  Julia Stiles, Jim Broadbent, Ciarán Hinds, Riz Ahmed, Kenneth Cranham, and Anne-Marie Duff have been added to the cast, with John Crowley (Boy A) set to direct.  The story centers on two ex-lovers who “find their loyalties tested and their lives at risk when they are joined together on the defense team in a terrorism trial.”  Not much else is known plot-wise, but Crowley has assembled a fine international cast and I’m looking forward to seeing how the suspense thriller plays out.

Hit the jump to read the full press release.