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Ahead of the release of opera biopic Maria, the film’s star Angelina Jolie talks to Rachael Davis about artistry, opera singing, and celebrity.
After Maria Callas’ death, aged just 53, many reflected on the life and career of the incredibly talented opera singer as one of great tragedy.
Born in the 1920s to Greek immigrants in New York, she had a difficult childhood marked by her father’s infidelity and her parents’ divorce. At 13, she moved to Athens with her mother and sister and began to train as a soprano opera singer, earning the title role of the Royal Opera of Athens’ production of Puccini’s Tosca – playing a 19th-century Roman prima donna driven to a tragic death by the schemes of a powerful man who desires her – just a year later. It proved to be a role which defined Callas throughout her life.
As her career grew, Callas travelled the world – Italy, London, the United States – and became known not just for her immeasurable talent, but for her exacting standards: for example, she famously demanded a salary equal to the male singers when she performed in Norma at the Met in New York, which shocked the music world.
By her 30s, however, her voice was becoming less reliable, despite being at an age where sopranos are usually in their prime. Even when she retired at 41, the spotlight followed her as she began a torrid love affair with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who went on to marry former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
By the time she died from a sudden heart attack in 1977, many thought they knew Maria Callas from the news stories and paparazzi photographs – not least those which claimed she died from heartbreak after Onassis married Kennedy – but it was her art, opera, that always mattered most to her, that was always her true love.
It’s this connection with her art in the face of judgement from the outside world, her commitment to artistry while dealing with the trappings of celebrity, which drew Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie to portray Callas in Pablo Larraín’s film Maria.
“I think she’s helped me to return to being an artist,” reflects Jolie, 49.
“I think I went quite a few years and almost, almost shied away from being an artist, maybe because I grew up in Hollywood and I didn’t really love the world of it, and maybe I somehow felt ashamed to take it seriously, the idea of being an artist.
“I’ve kind of been away from certain work for a very long time, and been mostly home, so it was kind of like somehow, to respect her, to take the work seriously and embrace it and embrace the process, made me love it again.”
Stepping into the shoes of a real figure is often a daunting undertaking for an actor, no matter their prestige – it’s important to honour their legacy and truth while not becoming a caricature, not simply doing an impersonation.
For Jolie, however, there was another layer to her performance of Callas: she had to learn to sing opera, a process she describes as “the therapy I didn’t realise I needed”.
Director Pablo Larraín decided, during the operatic performances in Maria, to layer Callas’s own vocals with Jolie’s, creating the most powerful illusion while also allowing Jolie to fully explore Callas by understanding her craft.
“Especially my first day singing on set, I was terrified,” Girl, Interrupted and Mr. & Mrs. Smith star Jolie admits.
“I was extremely uncomfortable and extremely nervous but, you know, I think this is life. I think we all want something in life that scares us…
“(I’ve) been around a long time, and to have a gift of a role that would scare me, and something I wasn’t sure I could do, and something to work towards… The enormity of her, of her work and stepping into her shoes was, of course, daunting, so I’m glad I had at least seven months to prepare!”
At the end of the film, audiences are treated to clips of the real Maria Callas, and it’s striking just how much Jolie resembles her in her performance. The star credits the “amazing” hair, makeup and costume departments on the shoot, but adds that there was one piece of costuming in particular that made her feel most like Maria.
“I think part of the trick of somebody like that – for me anyway, and I think it’s effective – is to not try to mimic… where it’s distracting. To do just enough that we become one, but that it doesn’t feel like you’re staring at make-up,” she says.
“So (it was) very subtle things: Her nose is different, her eyes are different, and, of course, her hair.
“Honestly, the biggest change for me was her glasses. The glasses – that dropped me in, probably more than anything.”
Through embodying every aspect of the opera singer – physically, artistically, and emotionally – Jolie adds that she feels she has gained a deeper understanding of this great woman of history, beyond the legacy which others had crafted for her, as well as “a real, true love of opera”.
“I was always moved and impressed by her work and her artistry, like so many other fans of hers – I’m one – but (also) not knowing who the real person was,” she says.
“And I became quite protective of her when I started to learn more about her, and also really discover how people treated her, especially in the last years of her life.
“I was drawn to: ‘Who is this person?’ and ‘What was she really going through?’, and ‘How can we work to understand her?’”
Maria is in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday, January 10.
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