Angelina Jolie attends a red carpet for the movie Maria during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at on August 29, 2024

I trained for seven months to become an Opera singer i. movie 'Maria' Angelina Jolie reveals at the premiere.

On Thursday, during the Venice Film Festival, Angelina Jolie displayed a profound emotional response as her film “Maria” received an 8-minute standing ovation. The actress, aged 49, discreetly wiped away tears as the audience applauded her.

In “Maria,” directed by Pablo Larraín, Jolie assumes the role of the renowned opera singer Maria Callas. According to the official press release, the film narrates the “tumultuous, captivating, and tragic life journey of the world’s greatest opera singer, revisited and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.”

As reported by Variety, Jolie dedicated seven months to mastering the art of operatic singing in preparation for her role.

“Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,” she said at a press conference. “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.”

“I had not sung in public before,” she added, noting she was “shaky” the first time she did it.

Maria Callas, a Greek soprano born in New York City, is frequently celebrated as the greatest diva in the world.

Throughout her tumultuous life, she experienced a fierce rivalry with fellow vocalist Renata Tebaldi, struggled with near-sightedness that nearly blinded her during performances, and had a high-profile affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who ultimately left her for Jacqueline Kennedy.

Her life was marked by various scandals and negative media coverage, as well as a significant weight loss in the middle of her career that affected her vocal abilities.

Tragically, she passed away at the young age of 53 due to a heart attack in 1977.

“There’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know and assume,” Jolie said at the press conference. “I related to the part of her that is extremely soft and didn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was and as emotionally open as she truly was. I think I share her vulnerability more than anything.”

Regarding the reference to Callas as a “diva,” Jolie stated, “I think it’s often come with a lot of negative connotations. I think I’ve relearned that word through Maria and I have a new relationship to it. I think it is often other people’s perceptions of a woman that defines who she is and what she intended.”

Jolie described her role as the singer as an unexpected therapeutic experience that had a profound impact on her well-being.

“I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out,” she said, per the Hollywood Reporter. “So the challenge wasn’t the technical, it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”

Attendees at the event commented on the movie’s reception.

“Angelina Jolie’s 8-minute standing ovation at #Venezia81 for ‘Maria’ is the most rapturous applause I’ve seen at the festival since Brendan Fraser launched his Oscar campaign for ‘The Whale’ here two years ago,” Variety’s Editor-in-Chief Ramin Setoodeh wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Pablo Larrain and Angelina Jolie attend the red carpet for “Maria” during the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 29.

Pierfrancesco Favino, Pablo Larraín, Angelina Jolie, Alba Rohrwacher and Kodi Smit-McPhee attend a red carpet for “Maria” during the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

Jolie told People in 2022, “I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge. 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.”

Jolie has been more sporadic about her acting in recent years. “Maria” marks the “Girl, Interrupted” star’s first role in front of the camera in four years. Her last role in front of the camera was in the poorly reviewed 2021 superhero movie “Eternals.”

Jolie has dedicated herself to humanitarian efforts, taking on roles as both director and producer. Recently, she and her 16-year-old daughter, Vivienne, produced the highly talked-about Broadway play, “The Outsiders.”

Additionally, she is currently navigating a protracted and complicated divorce from her former husband, Brad Pitt. Netflix holds the rights to “Maria,” although a release date has yet to be revealed.