Angelina Jolie makes heads turn in black at the Venice Film Festival; talks about relating to Maria. Watch

Angelina Jolie-starrer Maria premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The actor and filmmaker Pablo Larraín talk about the film.

For Angelina Jolie, portraying the famed opera singer Maria Callas meant more to her than she can put into words. “I felt such a privilege to feel like I got to know this woman and got to be inside her skin a moment. I really care for her deeply,” Angelina told The Associated Press a few hours before the film’s world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival Thursday. “I think I’ll carry that like a friend.”

Maria at Venice International Film Festival

Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín called on Angelina to take on the role as the legendary soprano in Maria, which was recently acquired by Netflix for distribution. The film focuses on the final week of her life in 1977, in Paris. She is deeply isolated, with only her butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housemaid (Alba Rohrwacher) looking after her — concerned about her health, the drugs and the devastating ripple effects of her diminished voice.

Pablo, a Venice regular, continues to explore the lives of very famous women with tragic narratives attached to them. In 2016, he came to the festival with his Jackie Kennedy portrait, Jackie, starring Natalie Portman as the first lady in the aftermath of her husband’s assassination. In 2021 he returned with Kristen Stewart playing Princess Diana as she considered divorce over the Christmas holiday in Spencer. Both films earned their leads best actress Oscar nominations.

Trilogy of historical women

Maria is the so-called conclusion to this trilogy of historical women, though she may be a bit less known to younger generations who weren’t around for the headlines and scandals. Born Maria Kalogeropoulos to Greek parents in New York, the singer made her professional debut in Athens as a 17-year-old.

During her brief life she became one of the greatest opera singers of all time with her unparalleled voice and stage presence. But the accolades also came with the intense scrutiny of her life in the public eye, whether it was her exacting demands and “diva” behavior, her weight or her romantic life. Maria famously had a relationship with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who left her for Jackie Kennedy.

She died in Paris at age 53 after a heart attack.

Angelina about Maria

“When I put her big glasses on and her Greek hair and I sat in my little robe as an older lady, I felt a (Maria) that felt like the private (Maria) that the world didn’t know,” Angelina said. “And I connected to her first and, and kind of loved her.”

Angelina made a grand entrance on the docks of the Hotel Excelsior, on the Lido, posing for photographers in a golden acid-colored Tom Ford jersey kaftan dress with hair long and loose. For the press conference, she'd changed into a slim black maxi dress.

She was reluctant to compare fame in Maria’s time to the present moment.

“I didn’t live then. I guess hard in different ways, easy in different ways,” Angelina said. “She was celebrated as one of the most wonderful artists and she also had food thrown at her and insulted and lied about. So I don’t know. She must have felt... she must have felt very alone.”

Angelina trained for nearly seven months to prepare for the role. The singing in the film is a blend of actor and the real thing. “My first days, (Pablo) was very good to me in that we started in a more intimate first with very few crew members,” she said. “And we ended at La Scala with everyone. So I had a little time to get my nerve. But this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was terrified.” Pablo said it was “the only way to do it.”

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, a journalist asked Angelina if there were surprising ways she related to Maria. “There’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know, or assume,” Angelina said. But, she said, she feels they do both share a softness and a vulnerability.