Many Things I Won’t Reveal

Angelina Jolie faced questions from journalists at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, August 29, regarding parallels between her public life and that of Maria Callas, whom she portrays in Pablo Larraín’s new film.

Maria completes the Chilean director’s trilogy of 20th-century biopics about prominent women, following Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021). It chronicles Jolie as Callas, the renowned opera singer, during her final days. The American-Greek soprano was relentlessly pursued by the media during her life, particularly over her tumultuous relationship with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who was both violent and eventually left her for Jackie Kennedy.

Jolie, once one of Hollywood’s most lucrative stars, has been embroiled in a series of highly publicized legal battles with her ex-husband Brad Pitt since 2021. Pitt sued Jolie for “secretly” selling her shares in their French winery. During the proceedings, Jolie alleged that Pitt had assaulted her and their children on a flight from France to California in 2016.

At the Venice press conference, Jolie was asked about the comparisons between her and Callas. “Well, there’s a lot I won’t say in this room, that you probably know or assume,” she responded with a laugh. “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 to be as emotionally open as she truly was. I share her vulnerability more than anything.”

Based on true accounts about Callas, Maria will tell 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. In her four-star review for The Independent, film critic Clarisse Loughrey praised Jolie’s portrayal. “[Spencer star Kristen] Stewart and [Jackie star Natalie] Portman certainly brought a part of themselves to their respective roles,” she writes. “But Jolie and Callas feel the most like twinned spirits. It’s a career-defining bit of synchronicity, bolstered by one of Jolie’s very best performances.”

Jolie and Pitt are both promoting projects at Venice this year. The Ocean’s Eleven star is showcasing his latest collaboration with George Clooney, Wolfs. However, festival organizers have ensured that the former couple will not cross paths. Artistic director Alberto Barbera told Vanity Fair earlier this month: “Angelina will be on the first day, on Thursday 29, and she will leave right after with Pablo Larraín to go to Telluride. Brad will arrive only on Saturday, to Venice. There is no way that they can cross each other at the Lido.”

Earlier this year, Jolie’s lawyers claimed that “Pitt’s history of physical abuse of Jolie started well before the family’s September 2016 plane trip,” but noted that the flight “marked the first time he turned his physical abuse on the children as well,” prompting the Salt star to leave the relationship immediately. Pitt vehemently denied the claims at the time and was never charged following an investigation into allegations of abuse on the 2016 flight.

Source: The Independent, Vanity Fair