‘Maria’ Pablo Larrain Wanted to Create an Angelina Jolie ‘Jewelry Box’

“She’s the jewel, and I had to create the jewelry box.”

The “jewel” for “Maria” production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas was Angelina Jolie who embodies the famed opera soprano Maria Callas in “Maria,” now streaming on Netflix. That was the directive the film’s Dyas received from director Pablo Larrain when approaching their latest film together.

“Maria” follows Callas in the last weeks of her life. Through flashbacks, he highlights her triumphs and moments such as meeting Aristotle Onassis and performing at La Scala in Italy. The film also looks at her struggles with her health and mental state while under the influence of medication and how she is haunted by memories while making one last attempt to return to singing.

Aside from poring over books, Dyas and Larrain trekked through Paris visiting Callas’ favorite restaurants and theaters, all of which Dyas would have to build.

The duo got to visit her former Parisian apartment on Avenue Georges Mandel. Except the current owner didn’t allow him to take photos so Dyas vigorously sketched what he saw.

“It was clear from the script that the apartment needed to be a merging of her past grandeur with her current day isolation and loneliness and her life in this apartment with her housemaid and butler.” Dyas explains. “There was an opportunity there to try and show this in a fluid way through the furnishings, color and design of her apartment.”

Each room flowed from one room to the next, whether it was her private space which was “chaotic and disorganized,” or her dressing room which he filled with Greek and Roman busts.

With the Dressing Room, Dyas wanted to show that this was a place where Callas felt comfortable to receive guests and hold interviews.

With her bedroom, Dyas had the idea that he says, “On first glance, almost looks like an operatic stage.”

Dyas found the color scheme interesting and challenging. He wanted the viewer to feel as if they were immersed in the 1970s.

He says, “I felt a responsibility to really capture the spirit of the 70s in a film where we were going to spend two thirds of the story inside the confines of her apartment.

Dyas turned to the French fashion houses, particularly the 1975 and 1976 collections. “Through our research, I learned that Maria was friends with people like Yves Saint Laurent, and so I looked at his collection and found a lot of those beautiful earthy browns, rusts and creamy colors with beautiful pops of orange, green and turquoise as accents to the collection.”

He also looked at Dior, Sonia Rykiel and noted their collections were showing similar color palettes. “So I did try to apply literal colors of clothes to the walls. So my choices of wallpaper, carpeting and drapery are all inspired by these clothes of the period and these great designers.”

The busts were sourced from Italy or prop houses in the U.K. They play heavily in the dressing room. “We had to promote this idea of this woman that had great success, and was a lucky human being to have lived the life she did. But, there was a price to pay in her private life and her sacrifice.” Dyas adds. “I had seen these busts as being the quite melancholy artistic statements that you could really understand pain, suffering and emotions that are going to challenge you.”

Some were broken and damaged with eyes missing or had only half a head. Dyas wanted the damage to be more apparent and obvious for this character beat to reflect that she was a broken woman.

Art-wise, Callas had strong tastes in painting. She wasn’t into landscape or modern art. Says Dyas, “She loved Renaissance art, and her apartment was full of these things.” He adds the theme of the Madonna and babies played strongly in her world of art.

The budget didn’t allow Dyas to acquire the originals, so the paintings featured were recreations.

The dressing room concerned Dyas the most.

The room was a story point, and Jolie’s character would spend plenty of time in there. He worked closely with the film’s costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini when it came to creating the room. Dyas knew he didn’t want to hide the costumes behind oak panels.

In real life, Callas owned over 10,000 items and over 1,000 pairs of silk gloves. Dyas’ dilemma was how to show that on screen. He ended up building a set where she could be surrounded by all the garments including the shoes and handbags.

Additionally, Dyas wanted to show off Parrini’s hero pieces which would remind the audience of her operas. Says Dyas, “We amassed an enormous amount of clothing for the set. We had over 4850 items of clothing; hats, shoes, gloves and dresses which we sourced from costume houses and thrift stores.” He adds, “We continued that ’70s fashion color scheme.”