Angelina Jolie confessed she was afraid of not being able to “live up” to Maria Callas’ legend in her new biopic about the great diva’s extraordinary yet tragic life that premiered Thursday 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 mesmerized 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 honor 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 much-anticipated highlight of the festival’s second day was the last in Larrain’s trilogy of movies about iconic women – after 2021’s Spencer about Princess Diana and 2016’s Jackie on 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 Larrain.
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.
Her private life has drawn parallels to Maria Callas, whose turbulent relationships were also tabloid fodder.
On the Venice red carpet Thursday, Jolie, in a camel gown and faux-fur shrug, avoided crossing paths with Pitt, whose film Wolfs is showing out of competition. Maria, competing for the Golden Lion, opens with a montage of Callas’s life, featuring Jolie singing “Casta Diva” and reflecting Callas’s dramatic personal and professional moments. AFP
