Angelina Jolie, who plays Maria Callas in a film screened Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, said she feared “disappointing” fans of the opera and the famous singer.
“The criterion for me to know if my performance is good enough is the opinion of opera fans and Callas, and I fear disappointing them,” the 49-year-old American star said at a press conference dedicated to talking about the film “Maria”, which is competing for the Golden Lion award.
The work focuses on the last phase of Callas’ life, which the famous singer spent in her Parisian apartment in a sad atmosphere since she left the love of her life, the famous Greek shipbuilder Aristotle Onassis, to marry the former American First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Callas was one of the most prominent stars of her time, performing on the world’s most prestigious stages, from Milan’s La Scala to the Paris Opera. Her turbulent nine-year affair with Onassis also attracted widespread media attention. She died at the age of 53.
“I was very attached to her, so I don’t want to hurt the image of this woman,” Jolie said, sitting next to the film’s Chilean director, Pablo Larrain.
In preparation for the film, Jolie took singing lessons to be able to embody the character of Callas, a very bold bet that made her “very nervous.”
“I spent about seven months rehearsing,” Jolie said, thanking Pablo Larrain for taking her “from a small room to La Scala” in Milan.
“It gave me time to apply, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be up to the task,” she added.
“I liked punk music more than opera, and all kinds of music, but I listened more to The Clash (a British rock band),” she continued.
Asked about common ground with the singer, Jolie, who herself went through a tumultuous and highly publicized divorce from Brad Pitt, took a playful approach.
“There are many things I won’t say, but you may know or think about them,” she said, prompting laughter from the audience.
“The common point between us is great kindness and the inability to express this kindness publicly,” she continued, noting that the most important common point between them is “vulnerability.”
Venice Film Festival
The screening of “Maria”, which deals with the last stage of the singer Callas’ life, is one of the highlights of the 81st Venice Film Festival, as this film represents a risk for Jolie, who embodies the character of the “Voice of the Century”.
The Chilean director, Pablo Larraín, who won the Best Screenplay Award at the last Venice Film Festival for his film “El Conde,” directed the film.
Larrain (48 years old), known for his biographical films, has several works to his credit, most notably “Neruda” (about the Chilean writer Pablo Neruda), “Jackie” (about the American First Lady Jackie Kennedy) and “Spencer” (about Princess Diana), which was shown at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 and starred Kristen Stewart.
During the presentation of the films competing for the Golden Lion award last July, Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera praised Jolie’s “amazing performance” as the singer, who died in 1977 of a heart attack at the age of 53.
The American star is joined in the work by three prominent Italian actors: Valeria Golino in the role of her sister, and Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher in the roles of the two servants who remained by her side until her death.
troubled love affair
To play the singer, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday in December 2023, director Larrain chose actress Jolie, 49, who made her big screen comeback with the movie “Eternals” and the “Maleficent” series (a third part is in preparation) in which she plays an evil fairy.
In preparation for this film, which is a kind of mirror game between two stars from two different eras and worlds, Jolie took singing lessons to be able to embody the character of the singer, a bet marked by great boldness.
Born Maria Kalogeropoulou before becoming Callas, the singer went on a strict diet in 1954 and lost 30 kilograms.
In addition to her native Greek, she spoke English, French and Italian fluently.
Callas caused controversy in some situations. On January 2, 1958, she said on the stage of the Rome Opera House, in the presence of the Italian President, that she had lost her voice and refused to continue singing at the end of the first section of the opera “Norma.” The opera management denounced the singer’s behavior.
Seven years later (1965) she achieved great success by performing the opera “Tosca” in Paris, before a final world concert tour in 1973.
