Angelina Jolie was the standout star at Palazzo del Cinema Thursday night as Pablo Larraín unveiled Maria to an adoring Venice Film Festival.
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| Angelina Jolie attends a red carpet for "Maria" during the 81st Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2024. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images |
The Oscar-winning actress stars in the biopic, which Netflix has just acquired about beloved opera star Maria Callas. In her red carpet look the star cloaked herself with a thermic faux fur stole, in one more stage-diva homage.
Under hot and humid 90 degree Fahrenheit (32.22 degrees Celsius) temperatures Jolie swept the carpet outside Sala Grande in a stone chiffon draped asymmetric gown by frequent collaborator designer Tamara Ralph following Raquel Welch's final wave goodbye at today…. Jolie didn't sweat those either-it showed as she cozied up with her co-stars including Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher and Kodi Smit-McPhee on the red carpet alongside auteur Larraín. Then she did two red carpet interviews with local media personalities before spending an inordinate amount of time working her way down the barricade to greet fans, pose for photos and sign autographs.
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| Jolie poses for the crush of festival photographers. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images |
Inside the theater, Jolie and perhaps a dozen team members from Maria received an ovation before the screening. The applause kept going for eight minutes until the final credits started to roll — eventually reduced Jolie herself into tears.
See more hot shots after the jump! Upon landing in Venice, Jolie was spotted at the airport lived like the movie star she is — dressed for cool fall weather (cinematic or otherwise) in a Dior trench coat from its 2024 autumn collection and leather boots.
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| Jolie in Saint Laurent at a photo call for Maria. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images |
The rest of her festival wardrobe, however is super easy breeze. The singer rolled up to Hotel Excelsior in a Saint Laurent striated, sleeveless V-neck maxidress fashioned out of fluid silk. You wore Saint Laurent again, this time for a Maria photo call and press conference: A black dress with a vintage Cartier brooch. Both looks can be seen below.
Maria (Sophie Marceau) draws on real-life events and follows the tale of one of the most famous opera singers in history as she nears her final days in 1970s Paris, culminating with a performance at Bastille Opera House. Steven Knight wrote the script. Jolie, center, also addressed the film publicly for the first time at a press conference held Thursday afternoon before its screening. Her work on the challenging role included months of intense preparation – seven, to be exact — during which she trained with opera singers and coaches to learn the posture, breathing and movement that goes into being a singer as great as Callas is supposed to have been. The opera immersion was “therapeutic, that I didn't know I needed,” she said in an interview with the media.
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| Jolie arrives at the Hotel Excelsior in Saint Laurent. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images |
Since then she has been able to connect with vicarious trauma experienced by sources and no longer felt like, “I was never angry in public towards men before,” these events. " "So the problem was not technical, it was an emotion journey to find my voice and be in my body and connect," she continues. You have to pour yourself into every single piece.
When asked which part of Callas she identified with, Jolie surprisingly answered: “The part of her that is very soft and doesn't have a place in the world to be assoft as she really was — or emotionally open.” More than anything, I identify with her vulnerability.