See Angelina Jolie Summon Opera Singer Maria Callas’ Deep Emotion in ‘Maria’ Trailer
What do you ask arguably the greatest singer who ever lived? “Maria, what do you want to sing?”
The new biopic, Maria, which will play in select theaters around Thanksgiving and hit Netflix on Dec. 11, features Angelina Jolie portraying the famed operatic soprano Maria Callas. In the trailer, a pianist asks Maria what she would sing as the singer looks out into an empty music hall. A little over a minute later, Callas’ answer is revealed, and it’s not what you would expect. But in between the question and answer, you see Callas in her many costumes as people tended to her, a black and white intimate shot of her in a photo shoot, and the raw emotion she mustered for her historic performances.
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Filmmaker Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Spencer) directed the picture, which also stars Kodi Smit-McPhee and Alba Rohrwacher. It focuses on Callas’ later life in Paris when she avoided the public eye.
“This film is my most personal work yet,” Larraín said in a statement. “It is a creative imagining and psychological portrait of Maria Callas who, after dedicating her life to performing for audiences around the world, decides finally to find her own voice, her own identity, and sing for herself. I’m deeply honored to tell this story and share it with audiences worldwide like Maria did with her life.”
Callas died in 1977 at age 53. Before losing her voice, her ability to infuse deep emotion in her singing and acting earned her the nickname “La Divina” — the Divine. Artists including Patti Smith and Linda Ronstadt have cited her as one of their favorite singers.
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