Okay, so someone suggested Disney look at a short story by Neil Gaimon of "Coraline" fame that tells the story of Snow White from the Queen's point of view, called "Snow, Glass, Apples". It was about the queen being a good ruler and saving her kingdom from the not-normal Snow White, and it was not a good idea for Maleficent or even Disney, but it was a good story I thought.
But interestingly Bebe Neuwirth played the queen in a radio version of that story, too! Maybe Disney really should hire her after she finishes as Morticia!
Also, this sounds a lot like Disney's slightly more adult-than-kid's book from the Evil Queen's point of view,
Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen.
But here's the thing - what is wrong with exploring the life of a villain wthout making them sympathetic, or at least, without making them un-evil or have no control over their evil? Maleficent is quite obviously someone who has joined forces with hell and is the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil.
What I could see is what Linda did with the Red Queen. She did wicked things but also wanted love and had emotions underneath. I think Maleficent could work as someone who truly chose to be evil, but like all people, also wants love and desires along with her truly evil deeds. Maybe she just wants to do what she wants.
I hope she looks at how the Disney archives apparently has somewhere the idea that Maleficent was once part of King Stephan's court. I would think she was once a good fairy but then decided to become evil. In the original fairy tale she's just an old fairy who thinks she is disrespected, but in the Disney version she may think they underestimated her evil power, like they should have invited her to appease her so she doesn't do evil to them.
Maybe not. It still stands she chooses to be evil. I hope Linda and the director pay attention to the Disney movie and don't mess with the characters making them ways they obviously wouldn't be...but they probably won't, sigh!