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The dark cloud of divorce made way for azure blue skies on Thursday as Angelina Jolie attended the 81st annual Venice Film Festival premiere of Maria.
The actress, 49, currently in the throes of a protracted divorce from Brad Pitt, made a welcome red carpet appearance ahead of the film's first official screening, in competition, at the annual ceremony.
Jolie looked stunning in an elegant floor-length evening gown with off-the-shoulder detailing as she greeted photographers on day two of this year's festival.
The stunning stone chiffon gown, designed exclusively for the actress by designer and couture house Tamara Ralph, featured draped detailing and a short train, with the number finished off with an elegant, fluffy faux-fur stole and a gold floral pin.
The star, who plays famed opera singer Maria Callas in the film, left her sleek golden locks to fall over her shoulders, while highlighted her features with a classic smoky eye and a statement red lip.
The dark cloud of divorce made way for azure blue skies on Thursday as Angelina Jolie attended the 81st annual Venice Film Festival premiere of Maria
The actress, 49, currently in the throes of a protracted divorce from Brad Pitt , made a welcome red carpet appearance ahead of the film's first official screening, in competition, at the annual ceremony
Angelina split from her film star husband after a disputed incident on a plane in 2016 (pictured in 2007)
At one point, the film star was seen tenderly attending to a sick hospital patient, who appears to have been brought to the premiere just to see Angelina.
The actress crouched down next to the man and was seen sweetly talking to him, as well as interacting with others who accompanied him.
Angelina managed to plaster on a smile for the glitzy event despite recently hinting at the heavy emotional toll which her divorce from Brad Pitt has taken on her, saying she has been through 'despair' and 'pain.'
The beauty split from her film star husband after a disputed incident on a plane in 2016.
She has said in court documents that he assaulted her and some of their six children and poured wine and beer on the family in a rage. He has always denied being violent towards her or the family.
Angelina's words came during a photocall to promote the film Maria at the film festival, in which she plays the opera singer Maria Callas.
When asked about her musical tastes she said: 'I was more of a punk and I loved all music but I probably listened to The Clash more than most.
'As I have gotten older I have listened to classical music and opera. I think I still love the music I did when I was younger, I would still listen to The Clash.
Angelina looked simply sensational as she attending the premiere amid her marital woes
The stunning stone chiffon gown, designed exclusively for the actress by designer and couture house Tamara Ralph, featured draped detailing and a short train, with the number finished off with an elegant, fluffy stole and a gold floral pin
The star, who plays famed opera singer Maria Callas in the film, left her sleek golden locks to fall over her shoulders, while highlighted her features with a classic smoky eye and a statement red lip
All eyes were on the Hollywood star as she graced the red carpet
Angelina managed to plaster on a smile for the glitzy event despite recently hinting at the heavy emotional toll which her divorce from Brad Pitt has taken on her, saying she has been through 'despair' and 'pain'
'But I think when you have felt a certain level of despair, of pain, of love at a certain point there are only certain sounds that can match that feeling and to me the immensity of the feeling encapsulated in the sounds of opera - there is nothing like it.
'That feeling that would move all of us if we were to hear it would be the only sound that would explain that pain, so I have leant more towards it now.'
She reflected on the premiere of the film on Thursday along with the release of Without Blood which she has co-produced, next week at the Toronto International Film Festival, which means that she is picking up the threads of her movie career which has been largely on pause since splitting from Pitt.
Jolie said: 'To be honest I have needed to be home more with my family these last years.'
'In that time I have become maybe more grateful to have the opportunity to be an artist and to play and to be among all of you, and to just be in this creative world that we are all fortunate to be a part of.
'I am happy to be here and I am grateful to be an artist in any way.'
At one point, the film star was seen tenderly attending to a sick hospital patient, who appears to have been brought to the premiere just to see Angelina
The actress crouched down next to the man and was seen sweetly talking to him, as well as interacting with others who accompanied him
The star shook hands with one well-dressed gentleman as she knelt down to see the man on the hospital bed
Despite her big premiere, the caring star took the time to interact with the fan
Angelina was poised and elegant as she took to the red carpet
The Maleficent star showcased her array of tattoos on her arms
She happily smiled and waved to the crowds who had gathered to get a glimpse of her
Angelina was every inch the leading lady as she posed with the cast and crew of Maria
Meanwhile at the premiere, Taylor Russell commanded attention in a glamorous cream midi dress as she posed on the red carpet.
The Canadian actress, 30, looked incredible in the strapless number which boasted a figure hugging ruched bodice and cascaded down into a long skirt.
Taylor posed up a storm on the star-studded red carpet as she wore the train of her eye catching skirt as a neck scarf.
Styling her dark tresses in a neat up do, the ex-girlfriend of singer Harry Styles added inches to her frame in a pair of towering heels.
She accessorised with a dazzling chunky bracelet and opted for a pair of coordinated stud earrings.
It comes after Taylor sparked rumours whether she is seeing ex Harry again as she was spotted walking around the singer's beloved Hampstead last week.
She was reported to have split from the Watermelon Sugar singer, also 30, in May after a year together, although this was never confirmed.
The actress has transformed herself into the role of iconic opera singer Maria Callas for the film, which will follow her turbulent life and legacy
Angelina said that she related strongly to Maria adding: 'There's a lot I won't say in this room that you probably know or assume' (pictured as Maria in the film)
Angelina had never sung onscreen - or in public - before she signed on to star as the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's biopic Maria
The Oscar winner told reporters at a press conference: 'Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous. I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo you can't do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train'
Jolie - who's mother to Maddox, 23; Pax, 20; and Knox, 16 - recalled: 'My first time singing I remember being so nervous. My sons were there and they helped lock the door so that nobody else was coming in, and I was shaky. I was frightened' (pictured in 2019)
Elsewhere, Eva Herzigová put on a daring display in a sheer body stocking ensemble as she attended the premiere.
The Czech model, 51, looked nothing short of sensational as she showed off her slender figure in a swirl print body stocking which featured a black halterneck bodysuit layered over the top.
The stylish bodysuit boasted a criss-cross halterneck design, a cutout panel at the waist, a high-leg design, and a sheer long train which draped delicately at the back.
She teamed an extravagant gold belly chain with the ensemble and added inches to her tall frame with a pair of black stiletto court heels.
To further accessorise the look, the blonde bombshell wore a chunky gold pendant necklace.
Angelina spent seven months training how to sing for her role in the film, and she performs as Maria Callas at the point when she was close to death and losing her voice.
Producers have indicated that they blended Ms Jolie's voice with Ms Callas'.
Meanwhile, Taylor Russell commanded attention in a glamorous cream midi dress as she posed on the red carpet at the Maria premiere during Venice Film Festival
The Canadian actress, 30, looked incredible in the strapless number which boasted a figure hugging ruched bodice and cascaded down into a long skirt
The ex-girlfriend of singer Harry Styles added inches to her frame in a pair of towering heels
Taylor posed up a storm on the star-studded red carpet as she wore the train of her eye catching skirt as a neck scarf
Detailing her unease at singing publicly for the first time, she said: 'Everybody here knows I was terribly nervous about the singing. I spent almost seven months training because when you work with (director) Pablo (Larrain) you cant do anything by half.
'He demands in a most wonderful way that that you really do the work and really learn and train.
'My first time singing I was so nervous that my sons were there and they helped to block the door so that nobody else was coming in.'
'And I was shaky. Pablo in his decency started me in a small room and ended me in La Scala. So he gave me a time to grow. I was frightened to live up to her and you know I had not sung in public.'
Pablo Larrain said that the film was a celebration of Callas' life and Jolie added that she hoped that the singer had known at the end of her life how loved she was.
Callas, hailed as the greatest voice in the history of opera, died aged only 53 in 1977 after a period of ill health and isolation.
She had been heartbroken after husband Ari Onassis abandoned her for JFK's widow Jackie Kennedy.
Elsewhere, Eva Herzigová put on a daring display in a sheer body stocking ensemble as she attended the Maria premiere
The Czech model, 51, looked nothing short of sensational as she showed off her slender figure in a swirl print body stocking which featured a black halterneck bodysuit layered over the top
The stylish bodysuit boasted a criss-cross halterneck design, a cutout panel at the waist, a high-leg design, and a sheer long train which draped delicately at the back
Bianca Brandolini D'Add turned heads in a racy black, cut-out top and matching trousers with a sweeping train
Angelina said that she related strongly to Callas adding: 'There's a lot I won't say in this room that you probably know or assume.'
'Probably what I relate to is the part of her that's extra soft. She didn't have room in the world to be as soft as she was or as emotionally open as she was I think I share her vulnerability more than anything.'
As well as Angelina, the film stars Valeria Golino as Maria sister Yakinthi, and Haluk Bilginer as Aristotle Onassis.
'I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria's life and legacy,' Angelina said previously in a statement. 'I will give all I can to meet the challenge.'
The Tomb Raider star also mentioned the film's director, Pablo, whom she said she 'long admired.'
The mother of six added: 'To be allowed the chance to tell more of Maria's story with him, and with a script by Steven Knight, is a dream.'
Angelina is lucky enough to wear some of Callas' real clothes in the film, including vintage fur items from Massimo Cantini Parrini’s archive collection.
Angelina reflected on the premiere of the film on Thursday along with the release of Without Blood which she has co-produced, next week at the Toronto International Film Festival
The former Hollywood wild child - who grew up listening to The Clash - said her biggest 'fear' would be to 'disappoint' the ardent fanbase of Maria: 'I really came to care for her, so I didn't want to do a disservice to this woman'
The movie depicts Callas (born Kalogeropoulos) rehearsing for an imagined performance that never comes to be as a camera crew led by Stranger Things star Kodi Smit-McPhee films her
In the first clip of Maria, released Thursday, the operatic diva worries her butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino) over ignoring her blood doctor's order and medication recommendations as she was 'controlling' her use of the hypnotic sedative, methaqualone
The actress has played famous people before: In 1998 she starred as tragic supermodel Gia Carangi in Gia and in 2007 she starred as Mariana Pearl in the film A Mighty Heart.
The director, who is best known for the bio pictures Jackie (about Jackie Kennedy, played by Natalie Portman) and Spencer (about Princess Diana, played by Kristen Stewart), said: 'Having the chance to combine my two most deep and personal passions, cinema and opera, has been a long-awaited dream,' Larraín said.
'To do this with Angelina, a supremely brave and curious artist, is a fascinating opportunity. A true gift.'
Maria was written by Steven Knight prior to Hollywood’s WGA strike and granted a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.
Callas lived from 1923 until 1977. She was born in American of Greek heritage and then trained in Greece as well as Italy.
She was not just known for her incredible voice, which helped make her one of the top opera singers of the 20th century, but also for her striking beauty which put a spotlight on her many romances.
Was Maria Callas really a whining, self-pitying, endlessly needy victim? Angelina Jolie stars as revered opera singer in a new biopic that projects little of her cultural stature, writes BRIAN VINER
The late shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis would have approved of director Pablo Larrain’s trilogy of films about three of the most iconic women of the 21st century: he slept with two of them.
Larrain’s swansong, following Jackie (2016) and Spencer (2021), is Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as the revered opera singer Maria Callas. It had its world premiere last night at the Venice Film Festival.
An expert excavator of misery, Larrain likes to scrutinise his subjects at the most vulnerable times of their lives.
Jackie focuses on Jacqueline Kennedy in the days following the assassination of her husband, President John F Kennedy, while Spencer unfolds over the Christmas of 1991, with Princess Diana at her unhappiest and most bulimic as she contemplates leaving the Royal Family.
This film presents Callas in the last few days of her 53 years, seeing her dead lover Onassis in her torrid dreams and tormented attempts to rediscover her famous voice.
Angelina Jolie's new film presents singer Maria Callas in the last few days of her 53 years, seeing her dead lover Onassis in her torrid dreams and tormented attempts to rediscover her famous voice
Callas transcended the world of opera, yet Maria gives us disappointingly little sense of that.
It was a famously influential voice, too. Linda Ronstadt once called her the greatest ‘chick singer’ ever: listening to Maria Callas records taught her everything she needed to know, she said, about singing rock’n’roll.
So Callas transcended the world of opera, yet Maria gives us disappointingly little sense of that. Yes, we know she’s a superstar, but Larrain, and screenwriter Steven (Peaky Blinders) Knight, never quite convey the magnitude of her cultural stature.
In the 1970s, even as a North-of-England schoolboy who knew an awful lot more about George Best’s cars than Georges Bizet’s Carmen, I was fully aware of Callas and her predilection for pulling out of performances in distant cities such as Milan and New York. It wasn’t opera news. It was news.
She had a personality to match her gigantic talent and was reputedly so formidable that - another choice quote - the pugnacious John Huston once said he’d rather go six rounds with the heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey than cross swords with her.
How unfortunate it is, then, that she spends most of Maria’s two hours as a whining, self-pitying, endlessly needy victim, imperiously bossing around her household staff to be sure, and talking in neat epigrams (‘I took liberties all my life and the world took liberties with me’), but not otherwise demonstrating much of that dazzling charisma.
In truth, she (itals) was (close itals) also a victim. Her mother bullied and blackmailed her, her husband stole from her, and Onassis beat and drugged her. But not much of that emerges either, except in a flashback to her Athens childhood, when her mother appears to be pimping her out to Nazi soldiers.
All that said, Jolie gives one of the performances of her career. This might be a flawed depiction of Callas but not by her; wearing enough mascara to sink one of Onassis’s ships she is completely believable in the role and even does some of her own warbling alongside some top-class lip-synching to the real Callas, having reportedly trained for seven months until she was ready to perform in public for the first time. Admittedly I’m no expert but I couldn’t tell the difference.
So hats off. There is already talk of an Oscar nod.
Jolie spends most of Maria’s two hours as a whining, self-pitying, endlessly needy victim
The real Maria Callas appears after the final curtain of the gala performance of Tosca at the Royal Covent Garden Opera House, London, in 1965
The film begins with Callas’s death. In Paris, in her grand but stuffy mausoleum of an apartment, she simply conks out one day, killed by her addiction to pills and fame. She is discovered by her devoted housekeeper (Alba Rohrwacher) and butler (Pierfrancesco Favino), who has health problems of his own, a dodgy back caused by shunting a grand piano around until his mistress is satisfied that it’s in the right place, which it never is.
From there we are whisked back a week, with Callas desperately searching for her high notes, and sometimes further, for instance to a monochrome 1959 when she first meets Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), and even to the celebrated birthday party for JFK, the one where he was serenaded by Marilyn Monroe, about whose singing voice Callas is predictably catty.
A subsequent scene in a restaurant, where the mighty diva repels the US President’s flirtations, is presumably a piece of whimsy on Knight’s part.
More whimsical still is the casting of Kodi Smit-McPhee as a human manifestation of Mandrax, the pill to which Callas was most in thrall. He takes the form of a TV interviewer, I suppose to conflate the two things that caused Callas’s demise: drug addiction and celebrity.
Jolie’s ‘tour de force’ keeps all this watchable, and there is one fabulous line – when Callas berates the dying Onassis for marrying Jackie Kennedy. ‘Sometimes you get married because you have a free day,’ he replies.
But Maria too often slumps when it should sizzle. I found it dreary, and longed for the end at least 20 minutes before it arrived. We all know that it’s not over until the fat lady (or in Jolie’s case the not-so-fat lady) sings, but she keeps us waiting rather too long.
Maria is a Netflix film, with a release date yet to be announced.
