Angelina Jolie understood the "loneliness" of Maria Callas
Angelina Jolie is back in UK cinemas this Friday in Maria, the biopic about iconic opera singer Maria Callas.
Talking to Digital Spy, Jolie reflected on how she managed to relate to the singer, especially in how she had to balance her personal and private lives.
"I think there's a public self and a private self for everyone, but maybe a little more magnified for somebody that's a performer. I think I related most to the work. I think she really loved and took her work very seriously," she explained.
"She took her responsibility to the audience very seriously. It was a relationship, a very important relationship in her life, which I identify with. You sometimes feel like with the public, the people think they know you, and in some ways, they do.
"It can be the most wonderful thing to meet a stranger and have connected emotionally, but then you live with that you're not really known, and there's a private you that sometimes doesn't have space or isn't wanted in the same way, or isn't given that room to be human.
"It's strange. There's something about that I can't quite explain, but I understood her loneliness."
Maria centres on the final days of Maria Callas before her death in 1977, with the singer reflecting on her life and career. It sometimes takes a fantastical approach to events with Maria's perception of what is real and not.
"It's about her perception. I think it's a movie that is looking at a single character all the time and through her eyes we see the world," noted director Pablo Larraín.
"So it's about one single point of view, and it's really up to her as a performer and as a character when she lets us in and when she doesn't. That interaction is very interesting and beautiful and sensitive."
Ahead of its UK release, Jolie also spoke to Digital Spy about the "biggest challenge" of portraying Maria Callas.
Maria is released in UK cinemas on 10 January.
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