Angelina Jolie says it was an ‘honour’ to sing for Maria Callas biopic: ‘She is very present in this film’ | Exclusive | Hollywood

Angelina Jolie steps in to play legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s biographical psychological drama film Maria. The screen icon opened up about her decision to lend her vocals for the part in an exclusive statement. Maria, which had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year, opened to universal acclaim for Angelina’s performance. It is directed by Pablo Larrain, written by Steven Knight. (Also read: Angelina Jolie reveals she cried during first opera lesson for Maria: ‘You’ve been through many things…’)

‘Her voice and her art are very present’

Speaking about the opportunity to step into this role of a lifetime was not an easy task. It demanded a lot from the actor. Angelina said, “Well, the good news about playing Maria Callas is nobody expects you to sing Maria Callas because nobody in the world can sing Maria Callas, right? Nobody at her time could match her, and it would be a crime to not have her voice through this, because in many ways, she is very present in this film. Her voice and her art are very present. She’s the partner in this film with me; she and I are doing this together. It was an honor and sometimes a bit of a head trip to be me playing her and us playing a third person on stage. As an actor, I wasn’t doing my performance of say, Anna Bolena, but Maria’s. It was me trying to understand why she made those performance choices. I’ve never played a performer before. As I would learn of her choices, I just became more of a fan of her work. She was also a brilliant actor.”

Director Pablo Larraín was also there to help. Maria completes the trilogy of films by the director based on famous female figures from our recent history- the previous ones being Jackie (starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy) and Spencer (starring Kristen Stewart as Diana).

‘It’s a very unusual script and construction’

Angelina spoke about her collaboration with Pablo, and said, “I met Pablo Larraín many years ago and told him how much I respected him as a filmmaker and hoped to work with him one day. He reached out to me about Maria, and he took the process of casting very seriously, which I appreciate. He really wants to make sure the artist is up for it and understands the job. I’m also a huge fan of writer Steven Knight’s work; it’s a very unusual script and construction. There’s a lot of bravery in the choices they’ve made in their storytelling, which says a lot about how capable they both are. I was happy that I was with a very serious filmmaker coming to me to do real work and expecting a lot of me and challenging me. That’s not always the case. It wasn’t just an opportunity to tell the story of Maria Callas, a woman I find interesting and care for, but it’s really to have a director who’s going to take you on a journey and is so serious about the work and tough on you. I like that he was tough on me! He’s a dream director, and I would want to work with him again and again. Also, I learned such a lot as a director myself, from watching him work” .

Maria follows Callas as she retreats to Paris after staying in the public eye for years, set during her final years in the 1970s. It also stars Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Maria releases on Lionsgate Play on May 9.