Angelina Jolie’s New Film Maria Earns Standing Ovation At Telluride Festival
Angelina Jolie continues to impress audiences with her latest film, Maria. At the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado on September 2, Jolie’s performance in the biopic about opera legend Maria Callas received a standing ovation, leaving the 49-year-old visibly emotional as she expressed her gratitude to the audience.
Angelina’s portrayal of Maria has been generating buzz since the film, directed by Pablo Larraín and acquired by Netflix, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on August 29 to glowing reviews.
Speaking at a post-screening panel in Telluride, the 49-year-old actress shared her experiences and challenges while preparing for such an iconic role.
The actress revealed that despite seven months of intense opera training, she was overwhelmed with nerves on the first day she had to sing as Callas on set. “I had seven months of opera classes, great teachers and Italian classes, and a supportive team that were going to help me…I was so nervous that morning I was out of my mind,” she admitted.
The initial scenes were filmed with only a few people present, but as the production progressed, the scale grew, culminating in a pivotal scene at Milan’s historic opera house, La Scala, where they were allowed just four hours to capture the moment.
Angelina praised her collaboration with Pablo, noting that his kindness and support were crucial to her performance. “I knew that as long as I gave my best, Pablo would be okay with it and somehow make it work,” she said.
This trust in Pablo allowed her to push through her insecurities and embrace the role fully.
Angelina also shared a personal reflection about a past relationship that negatively impacted her confidence in singing. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she revealed that she “had somebody in my life who was not kind to me about singing… I just assumed I couldn’t really sing… I just kind of adapted to this person’s opinion.”
Her role in Maria has been a significant step in reclaiming her voice, both literally and figuratively.
The production of Maria was also a family affair, as Angelina worked alongside her sons Maddox, 23, and Pax, 20, who were on set during some of the film’s most emotionally intense scenes.
Acknowledging the difficulty of showing such raw grief in front of her children, she shared, “It wasn’t that I was nervous to sing in front of them, which I was. It was that parents don’t show that level of grief to their children, ever… But then through it, they would give me a hug and we’d [have] tea and it was this beautiful thing of communicating on a deeper level about pain.”.
While Maria has yet to receive a release date, anticipation is high for the Netflix-distributed film.
