NEW YORK (AP) ā never expected to hit all the notes. But finding the breath of was enough to bring things out of Jolie that she didnāt even know were in her.
āAll of us, we really donāt realize where things land in our body over a lifetime of different experiences and where we hold it to protect ourselves,ā Jolie said in a recent interview. āWe hold it in our stomachs. We hold it in our chest. We breathe from a different place when weāre nervous or weāre sad.
āThe first few weeks were the hardest because my body had to open and I had to breathe again,ā she adds. āAnd that was a discovery of how much I wasnāt.ā
In Pablo LarraĆnās which Netflix released in theaters Wednesday before it begins streaming on Dec. 11, Jolie gives, if not the performance of her career, then certainly of her last decade. Beginning with 2010ās āIn the Land of Blood and Honey,ā Jolie has spent recent years while prioritizing raising her six children.
āSo my choices for quite a few years were whatever was smart financially and short. I worked very little the last eight years,ā says Jolie. āAnd I was kind of drained. I couldnāt for a while.ā
But her youngest kids are now 16. And for the first time in years, Jolie is back in the spotlight, in full movie-star mode. Her commanding performance in āMariaā seems assured of bringing Jolie her third Oscar nomination. (She won supporting actress in 2000 for āGirl, Interrupted.ā) For an actress whose filmography might lack a signature movie, āMariaā may be Jolie's defining role.
Jolie's oldest children, Maddox and Pax, worked on the set of the film. There, they saw a version of their mother they hadn't seen before.
āThey had certainly seen me sad in my life. But I donāt cry in front of my children like that,ā Jolie says of the emotion Callas dredged up in her. āThat was a moment in realizing they were going to be with me, side by side, in this process of really understanding the depth of some of the pain I carry.ā
Jolie, who met a reporter earlier this fall at the Carlyle Hotel, didn't speak in any detail of that pain. But it was hard not to sense some it had to do with her lengthy and ongoing divorce from Brad Pitt, with whom she had six children.
Just prior to meeting, a judge allowed Pittās remaining claim against Jolie, over the French winery ChĆ¢teau Miraval, to proceed. On Monday, a judge ruled that Pitt must disclose documents Jolieās legal team have sought that they allege include ācommunications concerning abuse.ā Pitt has denied ever being abusive.
The result of the U.S. presidential election was also just days old, though Jolie ā special envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency ā wasnāt inclined to talk politics. Asked about , she responded, āGlobal storytelling is essential,ā before adding: āThatās what Iām focusing on. Listening. Listening to the voices of people in my country and around the world.ā
Balancing such things ā reports concerning her private life, questions that accompany someone of her fame ā is a big reason why Jolie is so suited to the part of Callas. The film takes place during the American-born sopranoās final days. (She died of a heart attack at 53 in 1977.) Spending much of her time in her grand Paris apartment, Callas hasnāt sung publicly in years; sheās lost her voice. Imprisoned by the myth sheās created, Callas is redefining herself and her voice. An instructor tells her he wants to hear āCallas, not Maria." The movie, of course, is more concerned with Maria.
Itās Larrainās third portrait of 20th century female icon, following (with Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy) and (with Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana). As Callas, Jolie is wonderfully regal ā a self-possessed diva who deliciously, in lines penned by screenwriter Steven Knight, spouts lines like: āI took liberties all my life and the world took liberties with me.ā
Asked if she identified with that line, Jolie answered, āYeah, yeah.ā Then she took a long pause.
āIām sure people will read a lot into this and thereās probably a lot I could say but donāt want to feed into,ā Jolie eventually continues. āI know she was a public person because she loved her work. And Iām a public person because I love my work, not because I like being public. I think some people are more comfortable with a public life, and Iāve never been fully comfortable with it.ā
When LarraĆn first approached Jolie about the role, he screened āĀŁ±č±š²Ō³¦±š°łā for her. That film, like āJ²¹³¦°ģ¾±±šā and āM²¹°ł¾±²¹,ā eschews a biopic approach to instead intimately focus on a specific moment of crisis. LarraĆn was convinced Jolie was meant for the role.
āI felt she could have that magnetism,ā LarraĆn says. āThe enigmatic diva thatās come to a point in her life where she has to take control of her life again. But the weight of her experience, of her music, of her singing, everything, is on her back. And she carries that. Itās someone whoās already loaded with a life thatās been intense.ā
āThereās a loneliness that we both share,ā Jolie says. āThatās not necessarily a bad thing. I think people can be alone and lonely sometimes, and that can be part of who they are.ā
LarraĆn, the Chilean filmmaker, grew up in Santiago going to the opera, and he has long yearned to bring its full power and majesty to a movie. In Callas, he heard something that transfixed him.
āI hear something near perfection, but at the same time, itās something thatās about to be destroyed,ā LarraĆn says. āSo itās as fragile and as strong as possible. It lives in both extremes. Thatās why itās so moving. I hear a voice thatās about to be broken, but it doesnāt.ā
In Callasā less perfect moments singing in the film, LarraĆn fuses archival recordings of Callas with Jolieās own voice. Some mix of the two runs throughout āMaria.ā āEarly in the process,ā Jolie says, āI discovered that you canāt fake-sing opera.ā
Jolie has said she never sang before, not even karaoke. But the experience has left her with a newfound appreciation of opera and its healing properties.
āI wonder if itās something you lean into as you get older,ā Jolie says. āMaybe your depth of pain is bigger, your depth of loss is bigger, and that sound in opera meets that, the enormity of it.ā
If LarraĆnās approach to āMariaā is predicated on an unknowingness, he's inclined to say something similar about his star.
āBecause of media and social media, some people might think that they know a lot about Angelina,ā he says. āMaria, I read nine biographies of her. I saw everything. I read every interview. I made this movie. But I donāt think I would be capable of telling you who she was us. So if thereās an element in common, itās that. They carry an enormous amount of mystery. Even if you think that you know them, you donāt.ā
Whether āMariaā means more acting in the future for Jolie, she's not sure. āThere's not a clear map,ā she says. Besides, Jolie isn't quite ready to shake Callas.
āWhen you play a real person, you feel at some point that they become your friend,ā says Jolie. āRight now, itās still a little personal. Itās funny, Iāll be at a premiere or Iāll walk into a room and someone will start blaring her music for fun, but I have this crazy internal sense memory of dropping to my knees and crying.ā
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
