'Maria,' Starring Angelina Jolie as Opera Great Maria Callas, Will Be Part of New York Film Festival

“I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge,” Jolie previously told the Hollywood Reporter. “Pablo Larraín is a director I have long admired. To be allowed the chance to tell more of Maria’s story with him, and with a script by Steven Knight, is a dream.”

Larraín added, “Having the chance to combine my two most deep and personal passions, cinema and opera, has been a long-awaited dream. To do this with Angelina, a supremely brave and curious artist, is a fascinating opportunity. A true gift.”

Master Class is my all -time favorite dramatic play. I saw the national tour starring Faye Dunaway. She was brilliant.

I hope Angelina shines in this role.

Very much looking forward to this!

It will be either Gaga or her for Best Actress this year.

r4 WTF are you smoking thinking Flopga is gonna win best actress? Gurl....she is more likely to snag a razzie. She was lucky she escaped Gucci without a razzie

^^What's Gaga doing?

Gaga is giving a career defining performance in the Joker movie.

She will get nominated. And she will win if she is. She's overdue.

I'd love to be optimistic about this but...

Little Monsturds delusional as ever. They still pretend she is a popular singer too even though she hasn't had a solo hit in over a decade. TRAGIC

I really don't get all the adulation for Gaga. She isn't that great. She's performative. And homely.

mmmm....Angelina's offscreen personality and attacks on Brad have poisoned her work for me.

ANYBODY else and I would see it. I may hate watch it.

r11 Brad asked for all of it? Did you read the FBI report of what he actually did on that plane?? No wonder all his children hate him.

Valeria Golino is playing Jackie O in this film. Which sounds like miscasting to me.

However Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer is playing Ari and he was a hot piece of ass back in the day.

I think we can summarily dismiss anyone who uses the term "Flopga". My god.

Back to Maria. I am actually rooting for this film. Admittedly, I don't know much about Maria Callas and am excited to be exposed to her story.

Angie irritates me as a human, but I often enjoy her on screen and I do think she can be great in the right role. Maybe this will be that for her.

Jolie looks fabulous in that photo.

I'm in.

I hope you're right r14.

Angelina Jolie is the most mannered, artificial actress ever but, surprisingly, this might be helpful when it comes to portraying someone as studiedly ceremonious, self-conscious and vain as La Callas. The only thing that is worrying is the fact that Larraín is involved, as his previous biographical films have been the most insufferably pretentious, dull and meandering exercises of fangirling I've seen in my entire life.

Callas was a fascinating woman who had an incredibly colourful life and left an indelible mark in popular culture, not to mention that she rescued bel canto from oblivion with an uneven, ugly voice that could do fiendishly difficult things. At a personal level she was despotic, arrogant, narcissistic, self-serving and distant, but also afflicted by an extremely low self-esteem, desperately needy and very clingy. I hope that they reflect the complexity of her character and how pathological her relationship with the boorish, rude, boundlessly arrogant and greedy Onassis, was.

Also, it would be interesting to reflect the devastating effect that losing her voice had on Maria, who was forced to retire when she ought to have been at her best due to her having pushed her voice beyond its limits since she was a teenager. The combination of this sorrow, unresolved trauma from her adolescence, her obsession with Onassis' wealth and power, as well as the virulent envy that Onassis felt towards La Callas' talent and mystique (which lead him to treat her like dirt), could make for some great viewing.

This could be an interesting project, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think we can summarily dismiss anyone who is a little monster. My god.....the collective delusions they all share.

Anyway back to Maria....This could very well be another Oscar for Angie. When she gets the right part she NAILS IT!

She could be good in the role if that overvalued Greek neurotic cow.

The only movie I enjoyed her in was The Bone Collector.

Aniston is making a voodoo doll as we write!

Jolie you in danger gurl!

Hard pass

I'll definitely let others "take one for the team" on this, and will only consider watching if people begin reporting back here that it's THE BEST film and needs to be seen.

I don't want to encourage this poisonous, vindictive bitch.

Brad Pitt as JFK. Angie directed the Dallas scene. 42 takes.

I'm already cringing.

Poisonous vindictive bitches.....they do it better!

If it's as awful as Jackie count me in.

Is this an Oscar-bait role? It's a biopic so she could very well get a nomination if she did a decent job. Anyway, who are currently the frontrunners for BA so far this year? Seems slim pickings- haven't heard any actress or two who stood out .

Say what you will but Mrs Jolie is a GODDESS!

She serves talent

She gives face

and once you have entered her ICE COLD pussy she steals your soul

This will be camp excellence.

Jolie is not strong enough an actress for this role. It will be a fashion show with flared nostrils and raised eyebrows.

Saw her up close at Maleficent premiere. Birdlike with a CGI face. Otherworldly.

[quote] This will be camp excellence.

Will this be her Mommie Dearest?

R17, how you describe Callas seems to also apply to Jolie's personality. Is she playing herself?

[quote] WTF are you smoking thinking Flopga is gonna win best actress? Gurl....she is more likely to snag a razzie. She was lucky she escaped Gucci without a razzie

[quote] Little Monsturds delusional as ever. They still pretend she is a popular singer too even though she hasn't had a solo hit in over a decade. TRAGIC

Vadge off her meds again.

Jolie will be brilliant.

r35 your response feels....reductive.

[quote]LIAAAAM! BRING ME THE AXE!

Fuck Angelina Jolie. I hope this movie flops.

I would look forward to this with a different actress. Jolie's not a gifted actress, in my opinion, and she's not even interesting to watch in films. She's a nepo baby who drew attention to herself by being pretentiously "weird".

Amy Adams is easily the front runner at the moment for Nightbitch

Amy Adams is the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.

R41 - I hope they rename that movie. That sounds like a b-movie horror film.

Nightbitch would be a great DL username.

it's based on the book of the same name, and supposed to be a comedy horror wherein the titular character - to escape all-encompassing motherhood - turns into a dog at night (imagined, i'm guessing). Or something like that. I think the title sticks.

kind of weird, but still intriguing.

They should do a 3h remake of her as Callas in Medea. It would be the perfect role for her.

“ That night, Medea bathes each of her sons in turn, rocks them lovingly to sleep, and stabs them to death. The deaths occur offscreen; we only see the bloody knife. She lays them out on separate beds. Completing her revenge, Medea sets fire to the house with the corpses of her sons inside. Held back by the fire, Jason pleads with Medea to let him bury the children. She refuses from the midst of the flames, shouting, "It is useless! Nothing is possible anymore!"

r45 here...that post was posted on the Nightbitch thread...I don't know why it ended up here...I haven't visited this thread since last night...

oops, nevermind.

I need coffee...

This seems like it might be campy.

Sure to get a nom in the CC category.

I cannot take anything she's done seriously after By The Sea.

Well, you jack asses can victim blame all you want, but Pitt is an abusive drunk, and I believe Angie. I enjoy all her performances and look forward to this one.

R53 = Pax

I swear I recently read of a different actress going to portray Callas. Someone like Emma Stone but not her. Someone a generation younger than Jolie.

Gosh, did she walk into her cosmetic surgeon and ask for the Michael Jackson?

R56 Okay, right? Something looks off. She's very... taut.

Interview at Venice Festival.

Lately, Jolie has been locked in litigation with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, who will be in Venice in three days for the premiere of his new film, “Wolfs.” The festival’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, has said the scheduling of both movies was arranged so that Jolie and Pitt would not have to cross paths.

Sometimes I forget what a great actress she is because her name is always in the tabloids and the stories are rarely favorable. I will definitely see this.

[quote]Amy Adams is easily the front runner at the moment for Nightbitch

Nobody gives a fuck about Amy Adams.

Jolie and Gaga are genuine stars, and in an industry where there are very few of them around anymore, we need to treasure them.

They will bring more prestige to the awards show than some indie actress who's racked up a bunch of noms for unmemorable movies.

"The role is her most ambitious in ages, and yet it doesn’t feel like a reemergence so much as it does a project that’s been constructed around the strategically withholding presence she’s become. The part comes with all sorts of details that serve as the heralds of its legitimacy, like the fact that Jolie spent months in training to sing opera, her real voice blended with Callas’s famous one whenever her character performs. Despite that, there’s something bloodless about what Jolie actually does onscreen, a level of remove that makes it seem like she’s playing a woman who’s playing Maria Callas."

Variety

Jolie’s performance is, in many ways, quite fine. From the moment she appears on screen, she seizes our attention, playing Maria as woman of wiles who is imperious, mysterious, fusing the life force of a genius diva with the downbeat emotional fire of a femme fatale. Jolie, for the first time in years, reminds you that she can be a deadly serious actor of commanding subtlety and power.

I'm don't know if I can sit through something with her. Maybe.

She looks so…Angelina Jolie.

"Maria" is an unfortunate misfire from Pablo Larraín. The script is riddled with clichés, leaving the actors with little to work with. Even seasoned talents like Alba Rohrwacher and Pierfrancesco Favino seem lost, reduced to mere set dressing. Angelina's performance is more about striking poses than delivering any real emotion. The film drifts aimlessly from one scene to another without a coherent story to hold it together. Unlike Larraín's earlier works like "Ema," which boasted striking visual power, "Maria" feels flat and uninspired. The lack of depth and creativity makes it a frustrating watch, failing to engage on any meaningful level. A true disappointment from a director capable of so much more.

Oscarbait from the get go. But will she pull it off? Maybe leaking the news about seeking help for Pax being troubled will pay off here with a sympathy vote for a mother dealing with a brain-damaged son.

I love these shitty reviews. Fuck your fucking comeback, bitch.

[quote] Angelina's performance is more about striking poses than delivering any real emotion.

Pretty much her métier for the past decade or more.

Yeah, she lost her acting muscles some time ago. Way too preoccupied with how she comes across on camera, gods forbid she looked shitty for one nanosecond.

So, Jolie trained in opera for seven months? Why, they should have just used Angelina's actual voice. She could have another "Mame" on her hands!

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

She has a massive face, neck and shoulders with a short neck.

That photo and hairstyle emphasise all her bad proportions.

Angelina Jolie Weeps Through Rapturous 8-Minute Venice Standing Ovation for ‘Maria,’ Launching Oscar Buzz

She looks a bit different . I think for the first time, she looks older than her age.

Angelina tears up.

Omg ..now the tears...JFC

I like how her hair is color-matched to her dress and fur.

In tears during 8-minute standing ovation:

R75 this one looks more alive

That hair color is doing Angie no favors.

Angelina Jolie is actually going to sing Maria Callas arias using her own trained operatic voice. Brava!

How can a titless chic sing opera? Asking for a buddy.

Angelina Jolie Recalls Being 'Shaky' Her 'First Time Singing' for Maria. How Her Sons Helped Her Nerves

R85 My sides. This loony harpy should have played Cleopatra cuz she's the Queen of Denial.

I taught Angie everything I know but I think her Maria will surpass me. You go girly.

She was good in Changeling, I'll give her that.

I'm ready to die for whoever is her leading competitor at the Oscars. She must be thwarted at all cost.

I knew this would end in tears.

If she gets another AA, I hope Pitt knocks up the new gf.

Surely this is inadvertent camp - i.e. low camp.

She used to be fun and a touch silly in the 90s and I was surprised by what a misery she was in The Changeling. She dragged her emaciated body dully around the set then went full on Actors Studio HAM in the prison scene.

Are we to believe that just because she took voice lessons for seven months, Jolie can suddenly sing opera?

Valeria Golino isn't playing Jackie. She's playing Callas' sister. Wikipedia doesn't have a Jackie role listed.

[quote] I really don't get all the adulation for Gaga. She isn't that great. She's performative.

A performer who is performative?? How shocking!

I hope the movie is more subtle than Master Class, which indulged in the laziest Callas cliches.

R58 At first glance I thought that was Mena Suvari.

"Only my dogs will not betray me" -- Maria Callas

You have to love her. She was such a drama queen.

"My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a cruel thing to make a child feel ugly and unwanted... I'll never forgive her for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age."

Charles Ludlam did a hilarious play in the early 1980s called "Galas" where he played Maria Callas. He worked into the dialogue much of that extremely dramatic self-pitying language at r100. It is one of his true masterpieces, alongside "The Mystery of Irma Vep" and his hilarious Wagner parody "Das Ring Gott Farblonjet."

I read her older sister Jackie's memoir, "Sisters," which was published in 1990, after the rest of the family were dead. She is a pretty good writer, but, understandably, developed many problems of her own, stemming from the almost unbelievably dysfunctional relations within her family, so it's a sad story. The parents' marriage was absolutely toxic, and she's extremely passive-aggressive when she writes about Maria. I found the last 50 pages, which describe the protracted legal battle after Maria's death, to be tedious and wish they had been edited down to a short summary. To her credit, Jackie gave much of the money she received from Maria's estate to some of her relatives in Greece who'd never had much, and ensured that Maria's faithful Italian servants, who took care of her in Paris during her final years, received generous stipends. I haven't seen the movie, but the tale Jackie tells would make quite an opera.

This is her “I Am Sam”

Don’t know if this has been mentioned but:

The work she has done to her face makes it hard for her to portray any human being convincingly other than Angelina Jolie.

She's struggling even with that, r104. She's had a fucktonne of faces.

[quote]Larraín revealed: “We recorded Angie’s voice and we mixed it with Maria – different levels, sometimes it’s a tiny bit of Angie and mostly Maria. Sometimes it’s more. But it’s always there.

WTF!

You do not superimpose an amateurs paint by numbers crafty thingy shit over a Michelangelo. Absolut disrespectful to Callas and her once in a liftime artistry.

They deserve Toscas kiss for this.

Ang is really working the media as to how sensitive, empathetic, etc. etc. in prepping for this role as an opera great. And how "an ex" told her she couldn't sing, and now after being set free to be, she can sing opera after seven months of training!

‘Maria’: First clip of Angelina Jolie as opera star Maria Callas in new biopic

Does this crazy bitch think she's playing Nana fucking Mouskouri?

No prosthetic nose?

R110 - to be fair, a fake nose really is necessary when you're playing Maria Callas.

It's like Rob Lowe trying to play Telly Savalas - visually it just doesn't work.

[quote] Does this crazy bitch think she's playing Nana fucking Mouskouri?

Is Paul there?

The clip at R108 proves my point.

Love,

R40

Sounds to me like she has the speaking voice right.

Angelina Jolie in still pictures is gorgeous. Angelina Jolie in motion is grotesque.

R101 thanks I also saw the Charles Ludlam Callas piece circa 1984..... F-ing brilliant.

Wow r112, that takes me back!