Angelina Jolie reflects on ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience for portraying ‘Maria’ role

Angelina Jolie has recently opened up about her once-in-a-lifetime experience of portraying Maria Callas in new movie, Maria.

Speaking to Deadline, the Maleficent actress said, “I mean, it’s certainly the most challenging,” while giving reference to the seven months she spent learning six of the many dramatic arias most associated with Maria, who died of a heart attack at her Paris home on September 16, 1977.

Angelina talked about working with director Pablo Larrain, stating, “I wanted to work with the director for a very long time and this kind of work is not asked of me very often.”

“And if it’s asked of me, it’s not often with this kind of material and this director, so these things come once in a Iifetime,” remarked the Mr & Mrs Smith actress.

Reflecting on her movie experience, Angelina mentioned, “To be in the footsteps of someone you truly admire, I was beyond anything I could imagine, and it was a gift emotionally for me.”

The Tomb Raider actress pointed out that the role, she “changed me as a person. It helped heal a part of me”.

Dishing out preparation details about Maria, Angelina further said, “The wonderful thing about Maria Callas is that Maria was a teacher and there’s a recording of her teaching how to perform, so I listened to her description and followed her instruction and she describes how discipline is everything.”

“Don’t think about the feeling, don’t interpret the scenes… Understand the music, your voice is the instrument,” she added.