Angelina Jolie reveals she cried during first opera lesson for Maria: ‘You’ve been through many things…’ | Hollywood

Angelina Jolie is opening up about the training required to find her singing voice to play opera singer Maria Callas in director Pablo Larrain’s biographical, psychological drama Maria. In an interview with Good Morning America, the actor detailed why she described her opera lessons as ‘therapy,’ adding that in her very first lesson, she took a deep breath and cried. (Also read: Angelina Jolie says playing Maria Callas in Maria ‘helped heal a part of me’)

What Angelina said

During the interview, Angelina said, “We all don’t realize that different things that happen to us in our life — I know you’ve been through many things — we hold them in our body. Everything is just locked somewhere to help us keep going. And so to really sing, and sing very fully, you have to unlock all of that.”

She then added, “So my first lesson, I took a deep breath and just cried… and then left!”

More details

In Maria, Angelina lends her own vocals to play the famous opera singer. The actor underwent rigorous vocal training and spent about seven months memorising six of the tragic arias linked with Callas, who died of a heart attack at her Paris home on September 16, 1977.

Maria received a rapturous response and an eight-minute standing ovation at its September world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Since then, the film has premiered at Toronto, Telluride and New York film festivals. Angelina is receiving strong buzz to secure an Oscar nomination in the lead actress category. She previously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Uninterrupted.

Maria follows Callas as she retreats to Paris after staying in the public eye for years, set during her final years in the 1970s. Also starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Maria will premiere on Netflix on December 11.