Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Angelina Jolie’s Intense 7-Month Training to Portray Iconic Opera Singer
Angelina Jolie has seemingly put her all into her next role—spending half a year training for it. The Oscar-winning actor recently completed filming her starring role in Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” an upcoming biopic about soprano Maria Callas. She shared her experiences ahead of the Venice International Film Festival premiere, revealing just how daunting the process was.
“I was terribly nervous,” Jolie admitted to reporters. “I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo, you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in a most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.”
Her initial attempts at singing were particularly nerve-wracking. “I remember being so nervous my first time singing,” she said. “My sons were there, and they helped to block the door so that nobody else was coming in. I was shaky, and Pablo, in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in La Scala.”
La Scala is the iconic Milan opera house inaugurated in 1778 with a performance by Antonio Salieri, an Italian composer known for his rivalry with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as portrayed in the 1984 film “Amadeus.”
“So he gave me time to grow,” Jolie joked. “But I was frightened to live up to Callas.”
Maria Callas was one of the most influential opera singers of the 20th century. The New York-born Greek was beloved for her vocal range and dramatic interpretations, earning her the title “La Divina,” or “The Divine One.”
Larraín, who has previously chronicled the lives of Princess Diana in “Spencer” and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in “Jackie,” was drawn to the project due to Callas’ colorful life. Her life story included renouncing her American citizenship, love affairs, and a third act in Paris.
Callas lived largely in isolation in her later years and died in Paris of a heart attack in 1977 at the age of 53.
Jolie recounts that her children helped to block the door as she privately trained to sing like Callas. “Maria Callas was someone who sang for multitudes over the course of her life,” Larraín told Fred Film Radio at the festival. “She sang for millions of people all over the world for nearly 20 years, and by the very end of her life, she decided to sing for herself.”
Jolie seems to relate to this sentiment and has spent much of the past few years focusing on more important things than work. When asked about the chances of winning her second Oscar for “Maria,” the actor turned the attention back to Callas and her fans.
“Honestly, for me?” Jolie said. “The bar in this, that I would know if I did good enough, are the Maria Callas fans and those who love opera. And my fear would be to disappoint them. I didn’t want to do a disservice to this woman.”
Netflix has acquired the streaming rights to “Maria,” but has yet to announce a release date.
Source: HuffPost, Fred Film Radio
