Skip to content
  • About us
  • Music
  • Celebrities
  • TV and Movies
  • Fashion
  • Entertaiment
  • Life Style
  • Travel and Health
Style Focus

Style Focus

  • About us
  • Music
  • Celebrities
  • TV and Movies
  • Fashion
  • Entertaiment
  • Life Style
  • Travel and Health
  • Toggle search form
  • Tom Holland’s Romeo wows crowds more than critics Uncategorised
  • 40 Stars Pose Together for Edward Enninful’s Final ‘British Vogue’ Cover — and You Just Have to See It Uncategorised
  • Co-op Live set to open after chaotic three weeks Uncategorised
  • Helen Worth leaves Coronation Street after 50 years Uncategorised
  • North West, Penelope Disick and Friends Dress Up Like Cheetah Girls for Halloween: See Their ‘Amigas’ Routine Uncategorised
  • Fans react as Taylor Swift’s new album ‘leaked’ Uncategorised
  • Armenia confirms Eurovision 2025 return with Depi Evratesil as national selection Uncategorised
  • Haydn Gwynne: Drop the Dead Donkey and The Windsors star dies aged 66 Uncategorised

My kids saw my pain on set, says Angelina Jolie

Posted on 19 December 2024 By Admin No Comments on My kids saw my pain on set, says Angelina Jolie

My kids saw my pain on set, says Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie in a faux fur dress against a backdrop of photographers
Angelina Jolie plays opera singer Maria Callas in a new biopic

Angelina Jolie is notoriously private.

But in a new interview with BBC News, the Hollywood star spoke candidly about her experience of working on set with her eldest sons, saying they saw “the pain” she usually hides from them.

The actress is starring in a new biopic, titled Maria, about opera singer Maria Callas.

Two of Jolie’s six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt, Maddox and Pax, took on roles as production assistants on the film.

“The character [Callas] has a lot of pain and they’ve of course seen me go through a lot of things, but they hadn’t experienced me expressing a lot of the pain that usually a parent hides from a child,” she said.

“So they were there to witness some of that, but then we would hug or they would bring me cups of tea.”

Jolie added that it was “a new way” of finding out how to be honest with her children about her feelings, “in an even greater way”.

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on Callas’s final years, in the 1970s, when she was living in Paris.

With Jolie taking on acting roles relatively infrequently in recent years, the film has provided something of a comeback narrative for her and could lead to an Oscar nomination for best actress.

A picture of Angelina Jolie as Callas wearing a white sweater and large glasses
Angelia Jolie’s performance could see her in the race for best actress at the Oscars

Callas was a US-born Greek soprano, and one of opera’s best-known singers.

In Maria, a blend of Jolie’s own voice and original recordings by Callas are used in the singing scenes.

The actress learnt to sing opera for the role, something she describes as “very physically demanding”.

Training took around seven months, she said.

“We started with regular singing classes and it was challenging in many ways, but when the opera classes began, what it requires with your breathwork and your body and just the force of what you push through yourself, it’s just a very different physicality.”

Jolie, whose previous film credits include Changeling, Maleficent, Salt, and Mr & Mrs Smith, said she hasn’t sung before, and was “actually quite shy about singing”.

“It was probably one of the areas in my life that I was hesitant,” she said.

But she indicated that it was also something she enjoyed.

“One of the greatest privileges of being an actor is you often are supported by a crew to try something and explore something you’ve never done and this certainly was most challenging,” she said.

(L-R) Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Zahara Marley Jolie and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt pose at the New York Film Festival premiere of Maria in September 2024
Two of Angelina Jolie’s children, Pax, left, and Maddox, right, worked on the set of Maria

Jolie’s sons Maddox, 23, and Pax, 21, have worked on a number of productions with her before, including her film Without Blood.

Both of them accompanied her at the New York City premiere of Maria in September, alongside their younger sister Zahara.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016. The pair were engaged in a custody battle that resulted in Pitt being awarded joint custody in 2021.

The Hollywood stars also share daughters Shiloh and Vivienne, and another son Knox.

On the set of the film, both Maddox and Pax were “very busy”, director Pablo Larraín said. “They were good professionals,” he added.

Jolie said that during filming, Pax recorded a lot of her singing practice “so he was with me in my early horrible days,” she laughed.

“It’s always good for your children to watch your mum not do something easily, but swear and fight and fail and have to try again,” she said.

“So that’s an important and beautiful thing.”

(L-R) Angelina Jolie with director Pablo Larraín and co-star Alba Rohrwacher. All three are smiling.
Angelina Jolie with director Pablo Larraín and co-star Alba Rohrwacher

Maria is the third in a trilogy of films about high-profile, complex women from Larraín, following his movies about Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana.

The film has received mixed reviews, although critics have generally praised its central performance.

“Jolie is absolutely spellbinding as Maria Callas, imbuing her with grace and resolve,” said Sophia Ciminello of AwardsWatch. “She doesn’t disappear into the role, she transcends.”

Time’s Stephanie Zacharek was less keen on her performance, however, saying Jolie “plays her subject as haughtily cool and deeply insecure, but captures none of her imperious charisma”.

A picture of Maria Callas with her brown hair up, wearing pearl stud earrings and an orange shirt
Maria Callas, pictured in 1973, was one of the world’s best-known opera singers

Hailed as La Divina, “The Divine One”, Maria Callas began singing at 14 years old.

One of her most famous performances was as Tosca, in Covent Garden, in 1964.

But vocal decline, possibly caused by dramatic weight loss, led to the premature end of her career.

She spent her last years living largely in isolation, and died of a heart attack aged 53.

Larraín said he hoped his film honoured Callas’s desire to popularise the art form.

“If this movie bring attention to opera from one to hundred to a million, it will be a success,” he said.

“I don’t know if there is an art form as strong as opera,” Jolie added.

“The way it connects to the soul and the body, so of course it’s for everybody.”

Maria will be released in cinemas in the UK on 10 January.

Adblock test (Why?)

Uncategorised

Post navigation

Previous Post: Listen: Spain Reveals Benidorm Fest 2025 Songs
Next Post: Claude Kiambe is The Netherlands’ Eurovision 2025 singer

Related Posts

  • See the Colorful Dress Cardi B Almost Wore to the 2024 Met Gala Instead Uncategorised
  • Trainspotting’s Irvine Welsh: We’ve become ‘dumbed down machines’ Uncategorised
  • Amanda Seyfried Models Dress Made By Her 6-Year-Old Daughter While Celebrating 2023 Emmys at Home Uncategorised
  • Eurovision 2025: Semi-Final running order reveal Uncategorised
  • Prince Andrew gives up his title as Duke of York Uncategorised
  • Poll: Who is your favourite in Portugal’s Festival da Canção 2024? Uncategorised

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Kerry Katona on coping with fame after Atomic Kitten
  • From Georgia to Dubai: Paris Fashion Days and the Paris Fashion Awards Honored Visionary Designers Worldwide
  • The Power of Fashion: Milan Fashion Days Unites Global Talent on One Iconic Stage
  • Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales dies aged 93
  • Rapper Ghetts in court over fatal hit-and-run

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Archives

  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • March 2022
  • November 2008

Categories

  • announcements
  • Events
  • Fashion
  • music
  • Persons
  • Uncategorised
  • Social Media Stars the Pitman Sisters Share How Their Styles Differ and Where They Find Fall Fashion Inspo Uncategorised
  • “Queen energy” — Malta’s Miriana Conte is “SERVING” all kinds of attitude in the lyrics of her Eurovision 2025 entry Uncategorised
  • Celine Dion says ‘I’m back’ after health struggles Uncategorised
  • New music this week: Songs from LUNA, iolanda, Konstrakta and more Uncategorised
  • Eurovision Christmas (part 2): New festive songs from ISAAK, Daði Freyr, Alexandra Rotan and more Uncategorised
  • ‘Tis the Season for Celebs’ Ugly Christmas Sweaters! Uncategorised
  • Poll: Who is your favourite Nordic act of Eurovision 2025? Uncategorised
  • Yuval Raphael to represent Israel at Eurovision 2025 Uncategorised

Copyright © Style Focus

Powered by PressBook News WordPress theme