Angelina Jolie dazzles Venice Film Festival with ‘Maria,’ a biopic about opera legend Maria Callas

VENICE, Italy (AP) — For Angelina Jolie, portraying the famed opera singer Maria Callas meant more to her than she can put into words.

“I felt such a privilege to feel like I got to know this woman and got to be inside her skin a moment. I really care for her deeply,” Jolie told The Associated Press a few hours the film’s world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival Thursday. “I think I’ll carry that like a friend.”

Jolie looked every part the movie star on the red carpet Thursday evening in a champagne-colored gown custom made by Tamara Ralph with a fur stole.

Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín called on Jolie to take on the role as the legendary soprano in “Maria,” which was recently acquired by Netflix for distribution. The film focuses on the final week of her life in 1977, in Paris. She is deeply isolated, with only her butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housemaid (Alba Rohrwacher) looking after her — concerned about her health, the drugs and the devastating ripple effects of her diminished voice.

Larraín, a Venice regular, continues to explore the lives of very famous women with tragic narratives attached to them. In 2016, he came to the festival with his Jackie Kennedy portrait, “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman as the first lady in the aftermath of her husband’s assassination. In 2021 he returned with Kristen Stewart playing Princess Diana as she considered divorce over the Christmas holiday in “Spencer.” Both films earned their leads best actress Oscar nominations.

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“Maria” is the so-called conclusion to this trilogy of historical women, though Callas may be a bit less known to younger generations who weren’t around for the headlines and scandals. Born Maria Kalogeropoulos to Greek parents in New York, the singer made her professional debut in Athens as a 17-year-old.

During her brief life she became one of the greatest opera singers of all time with her unparalleled voice and stage presence. But the accolades also came with the intense scrutiny of her life in the public eye, whether it was her exacting demands and “diva” behavior, her weight or her romantic life. Callas famously had a relationship with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who left her for Jackie Kennedy.

She died in Paris at age 53 after a heart attack.

“When I put her big glasses on and her Greek hair and I sat in my little robe as an older lady, I felt a (Maria) that felt like the private (Maria) that the world didn’t know,” Jolie said. “And I connected to her first and, and kind of loved her.”

Jolie made a grand entrance on the docks of the Hotel Excelsior, on the Lido, posing for photographers in a golden acid-colored Tom Ford jersey kaftan dress with hair long and loose. For the press conference, she’d changed into a slim black maxi dress.

She was reluctant to compare fame in Callas’ time to the present moment.

“I didn’t live then. I guess hard in different ways, easy in different ways,” Jolie said. “She was celebrated as one of the most wonderful artists and she also had food thrown at her and insulted and lied about. So I don’t know. She must have felt... she must have felt very alone.”

Jolie trained for nearly seven months to prepare for the role. The singing in the film is a blend of actor and the real thing.

“My first days, (Larraín) was very good to me in that we started in a more intimate first with very few crew members,” Jolie said. “And we ended at La Scala with everyone. So I had a little time to get my nerve. But this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was terrified.”

Larraín said it was “the only way to do it.”

“Opera requires a very particular style of singing — in the pitch, the color, the breathing, the posture,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a tiny bit of Angie and mostly Maria and then sometimes it’s more, but it’s always there. We needed to do that because it’s the only way that she could properly prepare the character, play it right and then create the right illusion.”

Jolie has twice been nominated for acting Oscars. She won for her supporting role in “Girl, Interrupted,” and was last nominated for her leading role in Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling.” Netflix has not announced specific release plans for “Maria,” but Jolie’s performance already has awards buzz behind it.

The actor is also expected to depart Venice before her ex-husband Brad Pitt arrives for the premiere of his film “Wolfs” on Sunday. Though legally single since 2019, they are still fighting over issues like custody, finances and a winery in France.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, a journalist asked Jolie if there were surprising ways she related to Callas.

“There’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know, or assume,” Jolie said. But, she said, she feels they do both share a softness and a vulnerability.

The film also made her reconsider her idea of the word “diva.”

“I’ve relearned that word through Maria,” she said. “And I have a new relationship to it.”

Larraín added: “Whatever we think about a diva, a diva would never exist if there wasn’t excellence in what she does.”

“Maria” is among the 21 features competing for the festival’s awards which will be announced on Sept. 7.

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For more coverage of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival.