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‘It Helped Heal A Part Of Me’: Angelina Jolie On Playing Maria Callas In Her Latest Pablo Larraín Film
In a recent interview, Angelina Jolie talked in depth about her "challenging" role in the upcoming biopic Maria and revealed the impact it had on her emotional well-being.
Angelina Jolie, who’s the face of Pablo Larraín’s latest biopic based on the life story of the world's greatest opera singer, Maria Callas, calls it the most challenging yet rewarding role. During an interview with Deadline, the Academy Award-winning actress called Maria a “once in a lifetime” character.
“I mean, it’s certainly the most challenging,” she added, referring to the seven months she spent learning six of the many dramatic arias most associated with the prima donna singer who died of a heart attack at her Paris in 1977.
The screenplay, written by Steven Knight, follows Callas in her last days as she recalls her triumphs on the world’s most iconic opera stages, only to realize that she could never top those achievements. Her tragedy is coupled with her unsuccessful romance with shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
The one-of-a-kind script combined with the director of Jolie’s dream made the project a no-brainer for her. “This kind of work is not asked of me very often. And if it’s asked of me, it’s not often with this kind of material and this director, so these things come once in a lifetime,” she added.
Speaking of her experience working on the film, the Maleficent actress said it was beyond anything she could imagine, and playing someone whom she admired was like a gift that enabled emotional healing. “[The role] changed me as a person. It helped heal a part of me,” she added. When asked how exactly the movie impacted her, Jolie said it was too personal to explain.
“From that first day [on set] not being able to breathe and crying to singing at the top of my lungs at La Scala, Milan, those moments changed me,” she said. The Wanted actress revealed that she has been unable to listen to Callas’s recordings since the film concluded.
Maria had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival 2024, where it earned great reviews and an 8-minute standing ovation. The film will be released in select theaters on November 27 and will stream on Netflix from December 11 onwards.
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