"'I was terribly nervous,” she said... 'I spent almost seven months training....' [Director Pablo Larraín knew the actress could capture Callas’s magnetic presence and relate to the pressures the singer felt around her fame, but he strenuously did not want this to be a lip-syncing job. He planned on shooting close-ups of Jolie as Callas and felt it would immediately feel inauthentic to the audience if his lead actress didn’t know the sensation of singing opera, even if the sounds used in the film aren’t entirely her own.... [Jolie] listened endlessly to tapes of Callas teaching others how to sing opera... What we hear in the film are tracks mixing Jolie and Callas. The moments of Callas in her prime are mostly Callas with a fragment of Jolie — and then
at other, more raw points, particularly as her voice degrades, it’s more Jolie...."
From
"Angelina Jolie soars into the Oscar race with Venice film ‘Maria’/Jolie, who’s been locked in a legal battle with ex Brad Pitt, called the role of legendary opera singer Maria Callas 'therapy I didn’t know I needed'" (WaPo).
A quote from Jolie: "I think when your life is full, when you’ve 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 within the sounds of opera, there’s nothing like it, … It is the only sound that would explain that pain."
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Oscar? Well, but of course, her turn is coming up, isn't it - and this movie will be a spectacular and heavily promoted. I've never been impressed with Jolie's acting skills. And so, for some years, haven't gone out of my way to see her. Has she has learned how to act in the interim?
If they're sound mixing, then Jolie had to learn not only how to sing but how to copy Callas' rhythm and phrasing. Breathe when Maria breathes and hope you've trained your diaphragm well enough to make it.
For Jolie to look like she does, but to take on challenging acting roles for 30 years, you have to admire her for that. One hopes that the new young things coming up in Hollywood are paying attention.
She’s so brave.
I like her more than Aniston, Paltrow, etc. Wonder why. Is there a realness, an edginess maybe? She seems like she would stab you in the front rather than the back.
Cheers all. Gotta go make money.
Feelings, feelings, feelings, feelings, feelings......
Twice I remember asking my mother, `Why are operas always sad?' She tried no answer, but she was someone to whom I could direct such a perplexity. I would come to give myself various answers to the question - based on questions having to do, for example, with what occasions people to sing, and what plots best allow for such occasions, questions which I would later come to feel assumed the question, not answered it. I do not know that it is the most searching question one might ask of opera, but the most interesting directions for an answer I have been given to it come from another woman, Catherine Clément in her book _Opera, or the Undoing of Women_, published in 1979, translated into English some ten years later, when I came across it. Her answer is, in effect, that opera is about the death of women, and about the singing of women, and can be seen to be about the fact that women die because they sing.
Stanley Cavell A Pitch of Philosophy, p.132
When I hear Bocelli sing in Italian, it is magic.
"Why are operas always sad?"
They're not.
Look forward to Mike Rowe commenting on the film.
Bocelli is a novelty act, Dave. He's not a real opera performer.
Jolie is a fascinating woman, there's no doubt about it, she has a particular beauty that is captured well by the camera. But there's a very dark side to her too, in spite of her philanthropy, which I think has always been genuine. But for men, I think she's absolute poison. I've always been led to speculate what her relationship to her dad (John Voight) is all about. She has some real vitriol, there.
But: She can act reasonably well, but can she pull this one off? Not sure if I'll watch it or not.
Callas has a bit part in the Jackie O section of the recent book Ask Not. Aristotle Onassis comes off even nastier than the Kennedy men in the youtube review/reading I watched. FU money attracts too many women, even ones like Callas who should have more self-respect. It must be the whale scrotum-covered bar stools.
I liked her best when she didn't even have to act, when just being the embodiment of Lara Croft was award-worthy.
I know frequently actors without musical training will take on roles of famous musicians and even perform some of their music in films. Maybe there is some sort of studio magic that can occur, but I am very skeptical of someone being able to learn Opera singing and then emulate Maria Callas. That being said I hope the performance is good, and I hope they include Maria's Habanera.
It comes down to the script, the supporting cast, and the director. Jolie has the chops for this probably but it all "depends" on that weird alchemy of the dramatic arts in the end. Will it be gold or will it be dross? Or zinc oxide? Hafta see. Great material to work from though so, I am going to keep an eye out for when the film is released bc it seems to have potential.
It comes down to the script, the supporting cast, and the director. Jolie has the chops for this probably but it all "depends" on that weird alchemy of the dramatic arts in the end. Will it be gold or will it be dross? Or zinc oxide? Hafta see. Great material to work from though so, I am going to keep an eye out for when the film is released bc it seems to have potential.
Sierra Boggess would have been a better choice. She’s younger, can act, and already sings opera. Take a look at the YouTube clip of her singing “Think of Me.”
the whole premise is wrong. Mozart wrote great comic opera
my favorite aria for a female singer
Or Emmy Rossum, who did her own singing in the 2004 film version of “Phantom of the Opera,” and did quite well. Rossum has been nominated for and received numerous acting awards.
As did Rossini, Puccini, Verdi, even Wagner (sort of).
Lemnity, my friend, try “Mein Herr Marquis” from “Fledermaus.”
When I hear "Calas", I think tapeworms.
"Rossini, Puccini, Verdi, even Wagner (sort of)."
And Strauss.
And Strauss.
Maria Callas had a unique voice, full of color and depth. No trained or untrained performer could come close to it without manipulating the recording.
Callas-Tosca-Vissi d'Arte (Covent Garden 1964)
Buwaya, I think, turned me on to the late Patricia Janeckova's version of Big Mike's suggestion.
Nothing wrong with Dame Kiri's singing, of course.
Jolie has the "presence" for this role. Callas may have been the greatest ever. I'm looking forward to it.
"And to me, the immensity of the feeling encapsulated within the sounds of opera, there’s nothing like it, … It is the only sound that would explain that pain."
Very well put. Succinctly captures what is so special about opera.
Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie recapitulate Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher and Liz Taylor. No word yet on how that triangle maps on to the Maria Callas, Aristotle Onassis, Jackie Kennedy triangle.
Now that Brad is off doing heaven knows what (getting high 24-7?) , a melancholy, semi-tragic aspect enters Angelina's persona that will help her play Callas. The next move in the comedy? Ben Affleck is free. Will he be Angelina's Richard Burton? Probably not. Whatever Ben is, he's no Richard Burton (but the saga of Ben and his two Jennifers: is that Debbie-Eddie-Liz or Maria-Ari-Jackie?).
Gary Busey sang and played live on set all of the music in The Buddy Holly Story. That worked out fantastically. But most attempts of that kind fall short, because the actor's singing fails to capture the essence of what made the real person's performances so great. It's a bit of a Catch-22: If the point of the biopic is that the person being portrayed was a uniquely gifted and accomplished performer, then it sort of undercuts that argument to have an ordinary actor do the musical performances. If the actor's performances are just okay, then the audience thinks, "Meh, what was so great about [Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, etc.]." OTOH, if the actor totally nails it, then the question arises, "What was so uniquely special about [Judy, Elvis] given that this ordinary actor was able to faithfully replicate his/her performances with a few months of training and rehearsal?"
I think the Kirk Douglas portrayal of Van Gogh would have been much stronger if he had taken some drawing lessons and the movie had used some of Kirk's paintings to amplify and authenticate his portrayal of the artist.
Callas, in an effort to get pretty, lost some weight mid way through her career. I believe opera purists think that the heavier Callas was the better opera singer. She wasn't pretty, but she did have an intense, tragic presence. Towards the end, when her voice was gone, they offered her a ton of money to reprise her roles. She would act out the part, but the singing would be lip synced. She refused to do it because she felt that it would not be authentic. I guess that speaks to her integrity.......Marion Cotillard did a fine job as Edith Piaf, and there's no reason to doubt Angelina Jolie's ability to fill this role. Still, one can't help but observe that if Edith Piaf looked anything at all like Marion Cotillard, she wouldn't have been Edith Piaf. Ditto with Callas and Jolie. Doris Day played Ruth Etting. Doris was a far more accomplished singer than Etting, but she didn't dumb down her voice for the portrayal.
I'm glad you mentioned Cotillard as Piaf. It's one of the best performances I've ever seen. They didn't use Cotillard's voice, I don't think, yet her throat and mouth indicate she's singing at full power. It's wrenching and mesmerizing. La Vie en Rose.
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