- Angelina Jolie will play Maria Callas in a new biography.
- The soprano’s final years were spent in Paris in the 1970s.
- Her career was overshadowed by scandals.
Angelina Jolie will be portraying Maria Callas in a new biography by Spencer’s Pablo Larrain.
Maria will recount the soprano’s triumphant and heartbreaking story during her final, lonely years in Paris in the 1970s.
According to Variety, Steven Knight will pen Maria’s script. As Larrain noted, “Having the chance to combine my two most deep and personal passions, cinema and opera, has been a long-awaited dream,” this is a project that is dear to her heart.
Jolie talked about how difficult it was to play such a famous person as Maria Callas “I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge.”
Jolie first attracted attention for her scene-stealing performance in 1999’s Girl, Interrupted, which won her an Oscar, after making her acting debut in 1995’s Hackers.
Since then, she has appeared in blockbusters including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Maleficent, and the first two Tomb Raider movies.
She has also directed a number of films, most recently the historical drama First They Killed My Father about the Khmer Rouge.
She most recently starred in the MCU epic Eternals last year, and her next film, Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek, will be directed by her.
The two critically acclaimed English-language films Jackie, starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, and Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, both received Oscar nominations for their leading performances
Chilean director Larrain also produced the Stephen King miniseries Lisey’s Story. The script for Spencer was written by screenwriter Knight, who also wrote the scripts for Eastern Promises, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and Pawn Sacrifice.
Knight has also directed three films from his own screenplays, including the drama Locke with Tom Hardy and the controversial Serenity with Matthew McConaughey. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is another game show that he co-created.
Callas (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos) was one of the most well-known opera singers of the 20th century. She was born in 1923 to immigrant Greek parents and rose to recognition and praise around the world for her unorthodox and distinctive voice as well as her ability to enter the characters she sang.
Her career was overshadowed by scandals, such as her stormy relationship with her mother and a protracted affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, in the mid-’50s, when she started to lose her voice, which has variously been attributed to weight loss, health issues, and psychological issues.
Before passing away from a heart attack at age 53 in 1977, she lived a hermit’s life for several years. Her buddy, the filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, previously filmed a movie based on her life called Callas Forever in 2002, starring Fanny Ardant.
Maria will be made by Jonas Dornbach for Komlizen Film, Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment Pictures (a Fremantle Company), and Juan de Dios Larran for Fabula Pictures.
Watch the official trailer of Spencer;
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