Angelina Jolie Cast in Opera ‘Maria’ Despite Former Partner’s Criticism

Angelina Jolie is finding her voice.

The “Maleficent” star, 49, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Friday about starring as opera singer Maria Callas in the buzzy new biopic “Maria,” which premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. Jolie revealed she was nervous to sing in the movie after an ex made her question her musical abilities.

“It was an out-of-body experience because I don’t sing,” she shared. “I had somebody in my life who was not kind to me about singing. It was a relationship I was in. And so I just assumed I couldn’t really sing.”

She continued, “I’d been to theater school, so it was weird that it even had an effect on me. I just kind of adapted to this person’s opinion. So it took me getting past a lot of things to start singing.”

Jolie did not name the ex in question. She worked on “Maria” with director Pablo Larraín, who is known for directing Natalie Portman in the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic “Jackie” and Kristen Stewart in the Princess Diana biopic “Spencer.” Both Portman and Stewart received Oscar nominations for the performances.

In a press conference Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, Jolie shared that she was “terribly nervous” to sing in “Maria” and spent “almost seven months” training to do so.

“My first time singing, I remember being so nervous,” she recalled. “My sons were there, and they helped to block the door (so) that nobody else was coming in. I was shaky. … I was frightened to live up to her, and I had not sung in public.”

But Jolie, who previously won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for “Girl, Interrupted,” has already been receiving Oscar buzz for the role. A video shared on social media by Variety showed the actress getting emotional during a standing ovation at Venice that reportedly lasted eight minutes.

When asked about the Oscar talk during the Venice press conference on Thursday, Jolie said her main concern was impressing fans of Callas and opera in general.

“My fear would be to disappoint them,” she said, adding, “I didn’t want to do a disservice to this woman.”

In the interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jolie also suggested she will leave Los Angeles when her children are older.

“I am here because I have to be here from a divorce, but as soon as they’re 18, I’ll be able to leave,” she said. “When you have a big family, you want them to have privacy, peace, safety. I have a house now to raise my children, but sometimes this place can be … that humanity that I found across the world is not what I grew up with here.”

Source: USA TODAY, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety