Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie is set to play legendary opera star Maria Callas in a new film by Chilean director Pablo Larrain.
Titled “Maria,” the biopic reportedly “tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris,” magazine Variety reported.
The screenplay is written by Steven Knight, who worked with Larrain on “Spencer,” the 2021 historical fiction film about Princess Diana, starring Kristen Stewart, and also wrote “Dirty Pretty Things” and “Eastern Promises.”
“I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge. Pablo Larrain 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 said in a statement.
“Having the chance to combine my two most deep and personal passions, cinema and opera, has been a long-awaited dream. To do this with Angelina, a supremely brave and curious artist, is a fascinating opportunity. A true gift,” said Larrain.
Νote that a century after the birth of the Diva, the year 2023 is unofficially designated as the Year of Maria Callas (1923-1977).
Is she going to use her signature accent which is the same whether she plays the role of Alexander the Great’s mother (the only character with an accent in that movie) or the role of a Russian spy?