Angelina Jolie to play Maria Callas in biopic

Angelina Jolie will play Maria Callas in a film by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, known for the 2021 film Spencer, one of several of his Oscar-nominated films

The biopic will focus on Callas's final days in 1970s Paris leading up to her death on 16 September 1977 at just 53.

The film has been written by Oscar nominee Steven Knight who wrote the screenplay for Spencer.

Larrain 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.

Larraín's two biopics, Spencer with Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, Jackie (2016) with Natalie Portman as Kennedy Onassis, both saw their leading ladies receive best actress nominations. Larraín himself received an Academy Award nomination for best foreign language film for the 2012 film No, which was the first time that a Chilean film was nominated for an Oscar.

Encouragingly (for Callas fans), Jolie said:

I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria's life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge. Pablo Larrain 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.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.