“Angelina! Angelina! Angelina!”
The Venice Film Festival loves its movie stars, and Angelina Jolie was the toast of Italy on Thursday night. The actress wept during an eight-minute standing ovation at the Sala Grande Theatre during the premiere of “Maria,” Pablo Larraín’s biographical drama about the Greek opera singer Maria Callas.
The outpouring of love and emotion brings to mind another standing ovation in Venice that launched the Oscar campaign for Brendan Fraser in “The Whale,” as he wept through the applause that cemented a career comeback in 2022.
Jolie was similarly taken by the rapturous response, wiping away tears and at time turning her face away from the cheering as she was overcome by emotion. She hugged Larraín and the cast of the film, which is sure to be an Oscar contender, putting Jolie in the best actress race for her first nomination since 2009. (She won an Oscar for best supporting actress for 1999’s “Girl Interrupted.”)
Indeed, the fandom for Jolie started a full 24 hours before the screening of Marie, as Italians camped out overnight on Wednesday with tents and umbrellas, enduring 90 degree temperatures to spot the star on the carpet.
When Jolie arrived at the theater, she dutifully signed autographs and took selfies. She even met a fan with ALS who had been transported to the carpet on a bed, kneeling beside him as she greeted him amidst the flashing lightbulbs from the paparazzi.
Maria reunites Larraín and writer Steven Knight, whose last project “Spencer” bowed in Venice in 2021, and tells the “tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.” On the eve of its premiere, it was announced that Netflix has acquired U.S. distribution for the film.
At a press conference earlier in the day, Jolie spoke about preparing to play the famous soprano, which marked her first time singing in a role.
“Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,” she said of learning to sing opera. “I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.”
Alongside Jolie, “Maria” stars Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Stephen Ashfield and Valeria Golino.
Callas was an American-born Greek soprano singer and one of the most famous opera singers of the 20th century. She was born in Manhattan and received her opera training in Greece when she was 13 and later moved to Italy for her career. Throughout the years, she dealt with near-sightedness that left her nearly blind and multiple scandals in her personal and professional life. She had an intense rivalry with Italian opera singer Renata Tebaldi, plus an affair with Aristotle Onassis (who later married Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who coincidentally was the subject of Larraín’s film “Jackie”).
“Maria Callas, the greatest opera singer of all time, undoubtedly had a most unique, beautiful, and tormented life,” said Larraín in his director’s statement. “This is the story of her last days, a celebration depicted through memories, friends, and, most importantly, her singing.”
Coincidentally, it was in Venice when Callas’ career truly took off in 1949. Already singing the role of Brünnhilde in “Die Walküre,” she was suddenly forced to step in to sing the part of Eliva in “I Puritani” after Margherita Carosio fell ill.
“The notion of any one singer embracing music as divergent in its vocal demands as Wagner’s Brünnhilde and Bellini’s Elvira in the same career would have been cause enough for surprise; but to attempt to essay them both in the same season seemed like folie de grandeur,” wrote London Opera Society founder Michael Scott of the achievement.
There had been online speculation about whether Jolie would cross paths in Venice with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, who also has a film in the lineup (“Wolfs,” alongside George Clooney). However, festival director Alberto Barbera quashed any rumors, noting in an interview with Vanity Fair that their appearances had been spaced apart, with Jolie due to leave after the “Maria” premiere on Aug. 29 and Pitt arriving two days later.
“There is no way that they can cross each other at the Lido,” Barbera said.
