The Chilean director is passionate about opera, and the first from his country to achieve an Oscar nomination
Angelina Jolie will give life to the soprano María Callas in the film ‘María’, the next ‘biopic’ to be directed by the Chilean Paul Larrain after premiering “Spencer”.
The film will review the life of Callas (1923-1977) with its lights and shadows, painting his career as a “tumultuous, beautiful and tragic” journey from its beginnings to its last days in Paris, during the 1970s.
The filmmaker has not hidden the emotion aroused by this project since combines his “two great passions”, cinema and Opera.
“Do it with Angelina, a brave and curious artistIt is an exciting opportunity. A true gift,” she added in a statement.
Likewise, the character could give Jolie a lot of joy, since The last two biographical films that Larraín has directed achieved the nomination for the Oscar for its protagonists: Kristen Stewart got it last year for ‘Spencer’, based on the life of Lady Di; and Natalie Portman did the same in 2016 with ‘Jackie,’ about Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
For his part, the director was also nominated for the Hollywood Academy Awards in 2012 for ‘No’, which was Chile’s first candidacy for best international film.
In addition to Larraín, who will assume the direction, the project has already has confirmed the signing of Steven Knight (‘Spencer’, ‘Peaky Blinders’) to take over the script.
Born in the USA but of Greek origin, Callas (New York, 1923) was the most relevant opera singer of the 20th century. Known as ‘La Divina’ for her soprano tone of voice and mastery of ‘bel canto’, the artist’s wide range of vocals and her charisma led her to star in all kinds of works, such as ‘Carmen’, ‘Lady Macbeth’ and ‘Gilda’.
Although he was born in the US, his career developed between America and Europe. She was trained in Greece, very pressured by her mother, and after jumping on the stages of cities like Athens, Chicago and New York found prestige in Italy, where he debuted at the imposing Verona Arena.
Although the end of her career was marked by the deterioration of her voice, Callas continued to be considered the most important woman in opera and inspired the career of Montserrat CaballeJoan Sutherland and Leyla Genceramong others.