Sam Riley reveals nickname for Maleficent co-star Angelina Jolie

Sam Riley has revealed his special nickname for his Maleficent co-star, Angelina Jolie.

The British actor, who plays Diaval in the Disney blockbuster, was reunited with Jolie as the powerful fairy in the sequel Mistress Of Evil.

He told the PA news agency: “She introduces herself as Angie so you are then (invited to call her that), but if you start going home, particularly to Yorkshire, and saying ‘I’m meeting Angie’, you would get a lot of stick.

“So I often just call her ‘Mistress’ (how he addresses her in the films). She answers to it!”

Riley also spoke of his joy at returning to the role and reuniting with his co-stars, saying: “It takes out a whole element of the fear or the anxieties that are often there when you first start a job.

“Particularly for me, the first one was my first studio picture and it was quite a daunting partner (Jolie) to work with at first, in appearance in character, I should stress, so I was really happy to enjoy myself a little more this time.

“I did enjoy the first one we had a lot more fun this time, she (Elle Fanning, who plays Aurora) is such a sweetheart and I had a lot of fun with Angie as well.

“I think we both enjoyed revisiting these slightly weird characters.”

He added: “I enjoy all types of cinema-making. A lot of time you’re in a rush, I’ve done things where you’ve had to hold your own clapperboard and you’re doing your own make-up even, so to go on something where there is hundreds and hundreds of people working together and everyone is so good at what they are doing, each craftsperson and everything.”

Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil is out now.