Angelina Jolie learned a lot from playing singer Maria Callas — including lessons from the late opera legend that took her by surprise.
Ahead of the premiere of her movie Maria at the 81st Venice Film Festival, the Oscar winner was asked during a panel about what the word “diva” means to her in the context of her own life, considering Callas was known by many as “a great diva.”
“I think it’s often come with a lot of negative connotations,” said Jolie, 49, at the panel on Thursday, Aug. 29. “I think I’ve re-learned that word through Maria … and I have a new relationship to it.”
“I think it is often other people’s perception of a woman that defines, sometimes too much, who she is and who she was, or what she intended,” she added. “And I actually think [Maria] was one of the hardest-working people, who didn’t hurt anybody.”
“So I suppose it’s everybody in this room that makes that definition sometimes, but the true definition may be [that] the great composers define it differently,” Jolie said.
Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas in Maria(2024).
Pablo LarraÃn
Asked by another reporter how she personally relates to Callas, the Maleficentstar said with a laugh, “Well, there’s a lot I won’t say in this room, that you probably know or assume.”
“I think the way I related to her may be a surprise — [it was] probably 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,” Jolie continued.
Preparing to play Callas was no easy feat, as the actress “spent almost seven months training” for the vocal portion of the role.
“My first time singing, I remember being so nervous,” Jolie said. “My sons were there and they helped to block the door [so] that nobody else was coming in, and I was shaky.”
“And [director Pablo Larraín], in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in La Scala,” she added. “So he gave me time to grow. I was frightened to live up to [Callas].”
Angelina Jolie at the premiere of Maria during the 81st Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 29, 2024.
Andreas Rentz/Getty
Based on true accounts about Callas, Maria, written by Stephen Knight, tells the “tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris,” according to a press release.
During the Venice press conference, Jolie was asked how she feels about potential Oscar buzz surrounding her performance, and replied that the “bar” for her on whether she “did good enough” is more the reaction from fans of Callas “and those who love opera.”
“My fear would be to disappoint them,” she added. “So of course all other things, in my own business, if there’s a response to the work, I’m very grateful.”
Netflix has acquired the rights to Maria, but a release date has not yet been announced. The Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
