Ahead of the world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival, a new clip was released for Maria, Pablo Larraín’s biopic of American opera singer Maria Callas, starring Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie.
‘Maria’ tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest female opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.
The film stars Angelina Jolie as the influential opera singer and was written by Steven Knight, who collaborated with Larraín on the 2021 film ‘Spencer’.
“Maria Callas, the greatest opera singer of all time, undoubtedly had a most unique, beautiful, and tormented life. This is the story of her last days, a celebration depicted through memories, friends, and, most importantly, her singing.” said director Pablo Larraín
Maria chronicles the life of Maria Callas with a creative imagining and psychological portrait that brings his evocative trilogy of exploring the lives of three of the 20th century’s most captivating women that began with Natalie Portman in her Oscar-nominated role as first lady Jackie Kennedy in 2016’s Jackie. Split between the height of her career and the end of it, the film takes place in the ’70s in Italy as she strives for a comeback. A story about a woman that lived from the 1920s to 1970s, a woman who burned her voice, her life, by doing what she loved. Callas provides the vocals for her early years while Jolie’s own singing voice is used for the 1970s.
Larraín, who’s already familiar with directing biographical drama films about notable women in history, directed 2021’s ‘Spencer’, a biopic of Princess Diana; and 2016’s ‘Jackie’, a biopic of Jackie Kennedy. Both films got their lead actress nominated for the Academy Awards for the Best Actress category.
‘Maria’ debuts on August 29, 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in competition for the top prize of Golden Lion.
Updated. Shortly after the clip debuted, Netflix announced it had secured U.S. rights to the film.
“I’m excited to partner again with the Netflix team who care so passionately about movies. This film is my most personal work yet,” said Larraín said of the Netflix announcement. “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.”
Watch the new clip for ‘Maria’.