Angelina Jolie confessed she was afraid about being able to “live up” to Maria Callas in her new biopic about the great diva’s extraordinary yet tragic life that premieres yesterday at the Venice Film Festival. In Maria, the American movie star tackles the tormented final years of the 20th century’s most celebrated opera singer who mesmerised audiences around the world. “The bar in this… are the Maria Callas fans and those who love opera,” Jolie told a press conference ahead of the premiere of the movie by Chilean director Pablo Larrain. “And my fear would be to disappoint them.” “I really came to care for her so I felt I didn’t want to do a disservice to this woman,” she added. Jolie said she hoped to honour the “legacy” of the diva, who died nearly alone in 1977 aged 53, after a whirlwind life and career that was nevertheless marked by great sadness. The film’s premiere last night on the festival’s second day is the last in Larrain’s trilogy of movies about iconic women — after 2021’s Spencer about Princess Diana and 2016’s Jackie about Jacqueline Kennedy. The director has said only a larger-than-life star in her own right could play the role of the American-born Greek singer, whose successes at La Scala, La Fenice, Covent Garden and New York are the stuff of opera legend 100 years after her birth. “This movie would not have existed without Angelina,” said the director. Absent from the screen since 2021, the 49-year-old American actress and director has kept a relatively low profile even as her lengthy, acrimonious divorce from Brad Pitt continues to make headlines. The public’s fascination with Jolie’s private life has parallels with Callas, whose stormy life and loves — including her relationship with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who left her for Jacqueline Kennedy — were similarly fodder for the tabloids. But while the paparazzi will be out in full force yesterday for her premiere, Jolie will not cross paths with Pitt during her visit. Pitt’s action comedy Wolfs, in which he and George Clooney play rival professional fixers, is playing out of competition on the Lido on Sunday, as purposely planned by festival organisers to avoid awkward encounters. One of 21 films in competition for Venice’s prestigious Golden Lion prize, Maria opens with a whirlwind look at the highlights of Callas’ life as seen through the eyes of the paparazzi, with Jolie here singing Casta Diva in Paris in her red silk wrap, there accepting ovations at La Scala or frolicking with Aristotle Onassis on his yacht. Jolie said she studied for nearly seven months ahead of filming, training herself to mimic the great artist’s cadences and tones as the film mixes in her own singing voice with that of the celebrated soprano. “I was terribly nervous,” Jolie said. “I was frightened to live up to her.” Taped master classes taught by Callas served as a guide, however: “I got very lucky because the best way in, I got to be taught by Maria.” Jolie said she related to Callas’ softer side, “the part of her that’s extremely soft and doesn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was, and as emotionally open as she truly was.” “I share her vulnerability more than anything.” While some critics found flaws with Callas’s voice, it was nevertheless deeply expressive, able to impart dramatic intensity to any role, which combined with her beauty and presence often brought frenzied standing ovations. A towering talent with a tireless work ethic, Callas was often portrayed as a “temperamental” star, a label she rejected, defending herself as a disciplined perfectionist with high standards. She single-handedly revived the 19th-century bel canto operas of Donizetti, Rossini and Bellini — whose Norma was one of Callas’s signature roles. But the diva’s voice began to fail and even as she struggled to rekindle it, the “critics were so cruel”, said Jolie. “I don’t know if she passed knowing that she did her best and she was appreciated and loved. I think she may have died with a lot of loneliness and pain.”
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