For Angelina Jolie, playing the famous opera singer Maria Callas meant more than she can put into words. “I felt so privileged to meet this woman and be able to walk in her shoes for a moment. She is really close to my heart,” Angelina told the Associated Press a few hours before the film’s world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Thursday. “I think I’m going to carry this like a friendship.” (Read also: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will avoid each other at the Venice Film Festival; neither had to ask for the favor)
Maria at the Venice International Film Festival
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín tapped Angelina to take on the role of the legendary soprano in Maria, recently acquired for distribution by Netflix. The film focuses on the last week of her life in 1977 Paris. She is deeply isolated, with only her butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and maid (Alba Rohrwacher) to care for her – concerned about her health, medication and the devastating effects of her diminished voice.
A regular guest at Venice, Pablo continues to explore the lives of very famous women with tragic stories attached to them. In 2016, he came to the festival with his Jackie Kennedy portrait, Jackie, in which Natalie Portman plays the First Lady after her husband’s assassination. In 2021, he returned with Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana, who is contemplating divorce over the Christmas holidays in Spencer. Both films earned their leading actresses Oscar nominations for best actress.
Trilogy of historical women
Maria is the so-called conclusion of this trilogy of historical women, although she is perhaps a little less known to younger generations who have not experienced the headlines and scandals. Born Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York to Greek parents, the singer made her professional debut as a 17-year-old in Athens.
During her short life, she became one of the greatest opera singers of all time with her incomparable voice and stage presence. But with the accolades came intense public criticism of her life, whether for her high standards and “diva” behavior, her weight or her love life. Maria famously had a relationship with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who left her for Jackie Kennedy.
She died of a heart attack in Paris at the age of 53.
Angelina about Maria
“When I put on her big glasses and her Greek hair and sat there in my little bathrobe as an older lady, I felt a (Maria) that felt like the private (Maria) that the world didn’t know,” Angelina said. “And I felt connected to her at first and kind of loved her.”
Angelina made a grand entrance on the docks of the Excelsior Hotel on the Lido, posing for photographers in a gold Tom Ford acid-coloured jersey kaftan dress and long loose hair. For the press conference she changed into a slim black maxi dress.
She hesitated to compare the glory of Mary’s time with the present.
“I wasn’t living then. I guess it was hard in different ways and easy in different ways,” Angelina said. “She was celebrated as one of the most wonderful artists, and she was also having food thrown at her and insulted and lied to. So, I don’t know. She must have felt… she must have felt very alone.”
Angelina trained for nearly seven months to prepare for the role. The singing in the film is a mix of acting and real singing. “My first few days (Pablo) was very good to me because we started in a more intimate setting with very few crew members,” she said. “And we finished the part with everyone at La Scala. So I had a little time to get my nerves together. But this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was terrified.” Pablo said it was “the only way to do it.”
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, a journalist asked Angelina if there were any surprising connections between her and Maria. “There’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know or suspect,” Angelina said. But she feels they both share a gentleness and vulnerability, she said.
