Angelina Jolie is crediting fiancé Brad Pitt’s ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, for the amazing success of her new Disney film, “Maleficent,” which made a staggering $70 million opening weekend. According to Jolie, it was the former “Friends” star that convinced the Oscar-winner if anyone in Hollywood could pull of the role of an evil manipulative witch, it was Jolie.

“When I first was offered the lead in ‘Maleficent’ I wasn’t sure audiences would buy me playing a witch,” Jolie told Hollywood & Swine. “After all, I’m a former Goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, I have helped countless of refugees, and am the loving mother of six children. Luckily, Brad’s ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, told me that she has always seen me as a real life Maleficent.”

The phone call which inspired Jolie to accept the lead role in the Disney blockbuster came hours after the 2005 action comedy, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” the film in which Pitt and Jolie fell in love on, was playing on cable.

“Usually, I never answer the phone when ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ is playing on cable because I know it’s probably Jennifer calling to yell at me again,” Jolie said. “But luckily this time I answered the phone. After twenty minutes on the phone with Jen telling me how she really feels about me, not only was I confident I could pull off Maleficent, but now I’m confident I could play the female villain in every live action version of a Disney classic.”

Unfortunately, not all of Aniston’s casting instincts were as on target as the one she made with Jolie in “Maleficent.” The “We’re the Millers” star was also the one who convinced “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane that he had the acting chops to star opposite Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson in “A Million Ways To Die In the West,” which was a flop with both critics and audiences this weekend.