Angelina Jolie‘s new biographical film Maria premiered on Thursday, August 29, at the 81st annual Venice International Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. Maria revolves around the life of the iconic American-born Greek soprano Maria Callas, with Jolie portraying the titular character. Pablo Larraín, whose previous works include Neruda, Jackie, and Spencer, directed the movie from a script by Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders.
Watch Angelina Jolie’s reaction to her Venice Film Festival standing ovation
Following Maria’s screening at the Sala Grande movie theater at this year’s Venice Film Festival, the film received a 10-minute standing ovation. Jolie was present at the event along with Larraín and her co-stars Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher. The film reportedly drew an emotional response from the attending audience, who chanted Jolie’s name.
Jolie was also visibly emotional during the applause and was filmed wiping her tears and receiving a hug from Favino.
The two-time Oscar nominee wore a Cartier panther brooch that originally belonged to Callas for a photo call in the afternoon. During a press conference earlier on the same day, Jolie reflected on how she approached her character. “Well, there’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know or assume,” she said. “I think the way I related to her was probably the part of her that is extremely soft and doesn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she was, as emotionally open as she truly was… I share her vulnerability more than anything.”
Jolie also revealed that she had never sung before and received lessons for seven months. Larraín praised his lead actress by stating that “this movie wouldn’t exist without Angelina.” (via Deadline)
On Wednesday, August 28, Netflix secured the distribution rights to the film and will announce a release date soon.
