Hollywood star Angelina Jolie (48) transforms into the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the biopic “Maria”. The production company Fremantle announced the start of filming for the new film by Chilean director Pablo Larrain (“Spencer”, “Jackie”) on Monday (local time) and posted the first photos online. They show Jolie once as Callas with oversized glasses and once elegantly with a hat.
“Maria” tells the “eventful, beautiful and tragic story” of the opera singer at the end of her life in Paris in the 1970s, it says on Instagram.
According to Deadline.com, director Larrain said he was very happy to start filming. He hopes his film will convey the singer’s “impressive life and work” to viewers around the world. The director thanked, among others, author Steven Knight (“Spencer”, “Peaky Blinders”) for a “great” script and Jolie for her “brilliant work and extraordinary preparation” for the role.
According to the film portal, filming will take place in Paris, Milan, Budapest and Greece. In addition to Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Valeria Golino also star. The German company Komplizen Film is also involved in the project.
Callas, who was born in New York in 1923 as the daughter of Greek emigrants, thrilled international opera audiences as a star soprano and was also in the headlines with her love life. She died of heart failure in Paris in 1977 at the age of 53.
Oscar winner Jolie (“Crazy”) was last seen in the Marvel film “Eternals” in the supporting role of fighter Thena in 2021. Larrain previously looked at the life of the British Princess Diana with the drama “Spencer” (2021) and Jacqueline Kennedy with “Jackie” (2016).
