Angelina Jolie Takes Center Stage as Opera Singer Maria Callas In New Trailer For Pablo Larraín’s Maria
“Should I call you Maria or La Callas?” So opens the official trailer (watch below) for Pablo Larraín’s Maria, a biopic about opera singer Maria Callas, one of the world’s most renowned opera singers. Following Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021), Maria will serve as the third and final instalment of Larraín’s trilogy of films about iconic women of the 20th century.
The trailer dances between scenes of Callas in her old age gliding through her lavish apartment and black and white sequences of a younger Callas performing on stage. This push and pull between Callas the performer and Callas the woman will provide the central focus for this film, and is captured by an interviewer off-screen who dares to ask about Callas’ life away from the stage. A quiet but resolute Callas responds “There is no life away from the stage.”
After Jolie spent seven months training as an opera singer, a blend of her voice and recordings of Callas’ actual singing voice has been used for film, but the trailer holds off on revealing the final result. Instead, Jolie’s voice performance and stage performances are kept separate as we are first offered glimpses of the actress in full Callas getup on stage, before being graced with the sound of Callas singing at the end of the trailer. Though Jolie has in recent years stepped back from Hollywood to focus on her humanitarian projects, it is entirely possible that this film will garner the actress her second Academy Award for her performance as the glamorous singer.
This film will mark Jolie’s return to cinema after her turn in Marvel’s Eternals (2021), and it’s fair to say that Maria will be a much more introspective affair. Sweeping scenery and shots of Jolie as Callas captured against the backdrop of Paris showcase the artful skill of cinematographer Edward Lachman, and although much has been said about Larraín’s choice to make biopics about women who were as famous for their tumultuous personal lives as they were for their careers, in this film, he seems determined to give agency to the tortured singer. Though the film may not focus on one specific event as his previous two biopics did, Maria promises to place Callas in control of her own narrative.
Maria will be in select theaters on Nov. 27, 2024, before streaming on Netflix on Dec. 11. You can watch the trailer below.