Angelina Jolie kneels down to meet a fan with ALS during heartwarming moment at the Venice Film Festival in Italy
- Details
- Published on Friday, 30 August 2024 06:47
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie shared a tender moment with a fan while promoting her upcoming biopic Maria at the 81st Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy on Thursday. The Girl, Interrupted star, 49, knelt down in her stunning champagne gown while meeting a bed-ridden fan with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).Before entering Sala Grande for the world premiere of her film, the actress took a moment to speak with her supporter, sweetly placing her hand on his shoulder.ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, which control the muscles that allow us to move, speak, swallow, and breathe.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 actress, 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.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 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 star's latest film, titled Maria, is a biographical drama about the legendary opera singer Maria Callas.It is directed by Pablo Larraín and produced by Fremantle.It stars Angelina in the title role, with Valeria Golino as her 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 had never sung onscreen - or in public - before she signed on to star as the legendary opera singer.'Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,' the Oscar winner told reporters at a press conference.'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.'
Angelina enlisted vocal coach Eric Vetro - whose clients include Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, John Legend, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Rosalía, and Charlie Puth.'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,' described Jolie - who's mother to Maddox, 23; Pax, 20; and Knox, 16.'Pablo, in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in [the Paris opera house] La Scala. So he gave me time to grow.'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.'And while the film is mostly set in the seventies, Angelina appears to recreate Callas' (born Kalogeropoulos) 1958 performance at a Paris gala, which was broadcast through Eurovision.The New York-born Greek belter's powerful soprano pipes had three distinct registers and measured just short of three octaves, and she performed her final concert in 1965 following a vocal decline blamed on everything from dermatomyositis, to early onset menopause, to her extreme 80lb weight loss in 1954.Maria - who had an affair with Aristotle Onassis while he was married to former FLOTUS Jacqueline Kennedy - spent her last 11 years living in Paris after renouncing her American citizenship, and she died at age 53, from a heart attack in 1977.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.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.''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 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.Callas was also known for her fierce rivalry with Italian opera singer Renata Tebaldi.The film will cover her life story and finish with her sad death in Paris after suffering from vision problems that left her almost blind.Starring in a movie about Callas was a passion project for Faye Dunaway who even wanted to use her own money for the film, but it never came off the ground.In 2014, Meryl Streep was reportedly set to play Callas in Master Class with Mike Nichols as her director but the project did not come to be.Angelina will next be honored with the TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media on September 8 at the Toronto International Film Festival - the same day as the world premiere of her fifth feature directorial effort Without Blood starring Salma Hayek.
 |
source : Daily mail 
Angelina Jolie brings the glamour in a brown chiffon dress as she arrives for the Venice Film Festival ahead of her Maria premiere
- Details
- Published on Friday, 30 August 2024 06:48
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie looked every inch the leading lady as she arrived at the Hotel Excelsior by boat for the Venice Film Festival on Thursday. The Hollywood actress, 49, is in the city to promote her latest film, Maria, which will premiere on Thursday evening.Angelina looked effortlessly demure in a brown chiffon gown from Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello which had intricate criss cross stitching in the shape of a diamond across the waist. She complemented the look with matching heels and donned a pair of sunglasses as she emerged from her boat, waving to fans. Angelia flew into Venice earlier this week ahead of the premiere for Maria, which is an upcoming biographical drama film about opera singer Maria Calla.It is directed by Pablo Larraín and produced by Fremantle.It stars Angelina in the title role, with Valeria Golino as her 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. 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.Callas was also known for her fierce rivalry with Italian opera singer Renata Tebaldi.The film will cover her life story and finish with her sad death in Paris after suffering from vision problems that left her almost blind.Starring in a movie about Callas was a passion project for Faye Dunaway who even wanted to use her own money for the film, but it never came off the ground.In 2014, Meryl Streep was reportedly set to play Callas in Master Class with Mike Nichols as her director but the project did not come to be.
 |
source : Daily mail
Angelina Jolie breaks down in tears amid Brad Pitt divorce war as she is overwhelmed by epic standing ovation at Venice Film Festival
- Details
- Published on Friday, 30 August 2024 06:51
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie was moved to tears after receiving an eight-minute standing ovation at the premiere of her biopic Maria at Venice Film Festival in Italy on Thursday. The Changeling star, 49, looked visibly emotional and was seen wiping away tears after the audience at Sala Grande stood up to applaud her.In another touching display the actress — who plays the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the film — momentarily covered her mouth with her hand. Jolie, who's currently in the throes of a protracted divorce from Brad Pitt, 60, was pictured being escorted down the stairs by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, 48, as the crowd continued to clap for her.She spoke about the project during a press conference held Thursday afternoon before the screening, and revealed that she spent approximately seven months preparing for the demanding role. She worked with opera singers and coaches to master the correct posture, breathing, and movement techniques.She added that immersing herself in the world of opera provided 'therapy I didn't know I needed.''I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out. So the challenge wasn't the technical, it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.'She also shared that the part of Callas she most related to was 'the part of her that's extremely soft and doesn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was — as emotionally open as she truly was. I share her vulnerability more than anything.'Earlier on the red carpet, Angelina managed to smile, despite recently hinting at the heavy emotional toll which her divorce from 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.When asked about her musical tastes Angelina 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.'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.'
The couple's split has also affected their six children. Earlier this month their daughter Shiloh, 18, legally dropped her father's surname.Shiloh, who hired and paid for her own lawyer when she filed to drop the Pitt name on her 18th birthday in May, filed to change her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.There have been long custody battles which ended eventually in a victory for Pitt, who got 50-50 custody in 2021 only to have it overturned on appeal.The current situation has seen the children - Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, and Knox and Vivienne, 16 - form a tight group of seven with his former wife.This comes amid recent claims that Pitt and Jolie's divorce - which has now dragged on for eight years - is still ongoing as neither of the stars can 'let it go.'A source told People 'their disagreements took over' in the relationship, adding that things 'turned nasty and it was not a good situation for anyone.''All the bitterness is partly why the divorce has dragged on for so many years. Neither will let it go. You’d think they would be over it and just settle.' Another source of recent stress for the actress has been her son Pax's terrifying bike crash, which left him hospitalized.Pax was released from ICU earlier this month, after being treated for crashing his electric bike into the back of a car stopped for a red light on Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Angeles on July 29.He now begins the long road of recovery and physical therapy - and Angelina has been there every step of the way.Meanwhile Brad reportedly feels completely helpless his son is still refusing to have any contact with him as he recovers.According to sources, Pax 'doesn't want any well wishes' from his 'distraught dad' Brad even though the 'heartbroken' Hollywood actor is determined to help out in any way possible.An insider exclusively told DailyMail.com that Brad also wishes his family dynamic wasn't divided and that he wasn't getting 'radio silence' about his son's health.
Angelina's latest film is a biographical drama. It stars Angelina in the title role as Maria, with Valeria Golino as her 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 had never sung onscreen - or in public - before she signed on to star as the legendary opera singer.'Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,' the Oscar winner told reporters at a press conference.'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.'Angelina enlisted vocal coach Eric Vetro - whose clients include Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, John Legend, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Rosalía, and Charlie Puth.'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,' described Jolie.'Pablo, in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in [the Paris opera house] La Scala. So he gave me time to grow.'The former Hollywood wild child 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.'And while the film is mostly set in the seventies, Angelina appears to recreate Callas' (born Kalogeropoulos) 1958 performance at a Paris gala, which was broadcast through Eurovision.The New York-born Greek belter's powerful soprano pipes had three distinct registers and measured just short of three octaves, and she performed her final concert in 1965 following a vocal decline blamed on everything from dermatomyositis, to early onset menopause, to her extreme 80lb weight loss in 1954. Maria - who had an affair with Aristotle Onassis while he was married to former FLOTUS Jacqueline Kennedy - spent her last 11 years living in Paris after renouncing her American citizenship, and she died at age 53, from a heart attack in 1977.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. The film will cover her life story and finish with her sad death in Paris after suffering from vision problems that left her almost blind.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.''To do this with Angelina, a supremely brave and curious artist, is a fascinating opportunity. A true gift.'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.
 |
source : Daily mail
Angelina Jolie hints at the 'despair' and 'pain' of her divorce from Brad Pitt as she arrives at the Venice Film Festival photocall for her heartbreaking new movie Maria
- Details
- Published on Friday, 30 August 2024 06:50
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie hinted at the heavy emotional toll which her divorce from Brad Pitt has taken on her, saying she has been through 'despair' and 'pain.'Jolie, 49, 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.Ms Jolie is at the film festival in Venice to promote the film Maria, in which she plays the opera singer Maria Callas.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.'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.'Ms Jolie 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'.
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.Jolie said that she related strongly to Callas adding: 'Theres 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.'Pitt and Jolie are divorced but hostilities over finances and custody continue. Daughter Shiloh recently filed to drop 'Pitt' from her surname on her 18th birthday, revealing a deep rift.Older children Maddox and Pax are believed to have no relationship with Pitt either. Only twins Vivienne and Knox are under 18. The former couple are in dispute over Jolie selling her share in their Chateau Miraval vineyard to Russian oligarch Yuri Sheffler.Awkwardly Brad will also be in Venice this week- for his new hitman-caper movie Wolfs, with George Clooney.Sources indicate that the schedules have been arranged so that the warring couple - who continue to be embroiled in legal action eight years after they split - will not be at the film festival at the same time.Angelina will likely fly straight out of Venice following the Thursday night premiere of Maria before Brad heads to town in time for his Sunday night premiere.
 |
source : Daily mail
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
- Details
- Published on Friday, 30 August 2024 06:53
- Written by Daily mail
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.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.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.
 |
source : Daily mail
Share
