Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) plays late opera star Maria Callas in Maria, an upcoming film from Chilean director Pablo Larraín (Jackie).
Get a first look at the Oscar-winning actor, who recently joined the producing team of the forthcoming Broadway musical The Outsiders, as the late opera diva in photos above and below.
The film, according to Variety, will also feature Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk
Bilginer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Valeria Golino.
Set during Callas' final days in Paris in the 1970s, the film has a screenplay (completed prior to the strike) by Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders. Larraín and Knight previously collaborated on Spencer, the biopic about the late Princess Diana. The independent film, utilizing an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, will be shot in Paris, Greece, Budapest, and Milan over an eight-week period.
“I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge,” Jolie previously told the Hollywood Reporter. “Pablo Larraín is a director I have long admired. To be allowed the chance to tell more of Maria’s story with him, and with a script by Steven Knight, is a dream.”
Larraín added, “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 will be produced by Fabula Pictures' Juan de Dios Larraín, Fremantle Company's Apartment Pictures' Lorenzo Mieli, and Komlizen Film's Jonas Dornbach.
Callas' famed mentoring sessions at Juilliard were immortalized in the late Terrence McNally's Master Class, which opened on Broadway in 1995 and won Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actress in a Play for Zoe Caldwell, and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Audra McDonald. Caldwell, who played Callas, was succeeded by Tony winner Patti LuPone and Designing Women's Dixie Carter. Oscar winner Faye Dunaway starred in the national tour, and Tony winner Tyne Daly headed the cast of the 2011 Broadway revival.
