Disney Channel is adding even more force to its push to turn Dove Cameron into a signature star for the Mouse House. She’s been cast as the lead in its “Descendants” production revolving around the offspring of iconic Disney villains. Cameron will play Mal, daughter of Maleficent, the evil witch from 1959′s “Sleeping Beauty.” She’s the ringleader of a group of teenage kids of famed Disney villains who wind up tangling with the good-hearted son of the King and Queen from “Beauty and the Beast,” among others.
Kenny Ortega is directing the TV movie, which is set to begin production in the spring for a 2015 debut. That timing ensures that the teenage Mal character will draft off the attention for Angelina Jolie’s turn as the horn-bedecked baddie in the live-action “Maleficent,” set for release next summer. Cameron, who turns 18 on Jan. 15, at present stars in the Disney Channel comedy “Liv and Maddie,” and she will be seen next month in the cabler’s snowboarding-themed “Cloud 9.”
“Dove is a multi-dimensional actress whose undeniable charisma allows her to conjure the many facets of Mal, the sharp-edged yet vulnerable daughter of one of Disney’s most wicked villains,” said Judy Taylor, Disney Channels Worldwide’s Senior VP of casting and talent relations.
