Angelina Jolie is talking about the insecurities she faced when starring as opera singer Maria Callas in the film Maria.
This week the Oscar-winning wonder was seen on the cover of Variety’s Actors On Actors issue with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo.
They discussed how singing opera in Maria helped Jolie find her voice as the siren admitted that for many years she believed she could not sing.
That made her feel she was perhaps not good enough to belt out a song in a film, said the star as she wore an ivory suit with her honey blonde hair down. She also flashed her new bird tattoo on her chest.
Erivo wore a black top and large white skirt with stylish white pumps in images taken by Alexi Lubomirski as she talked about singing in Wicked.
Angelina Jolie is talking up her new role as Maria Callas in the film Maria. This week the Oscar-winning wonder was seen on the cover of Variety’s Actors On Actors issue with Wicked star Cynthia Erivo
Angelina was candid about her insecurities over singing opera.
‘I was terrified. But I think it’s a gift as an artist—and I know you felt this going into your film as well—when you’re just not sure you’re able to do it,’ she said.
‘You’re not sure you’re good enough. The task, the challenge, is set, and you feel small. It’s a gift for an artist…
‘People keep quoting me because I made, not the mistake—I admitted it was like a therapy. But it really is.
‘Because I didn’t realize the practice of it and the learning of it is one thing, but it was finding my voice and letting my voice out that was really hard for me.
‘And I was really emotional about it. I didn’t know how much I had lost my voice.
‘Maybe when I lost my mother, maybe when someone hurt me—whatever it was, the different things that had made it smaller and locked it away.;
The Mr And Mrs Smith actress said in an earlier interview that someone she was in a relationship with told her she had no voice.
‘So finding it and letting it come out was very emotional, and such a feeling that I wish for everybody to have. I wish everybody could know what you feel when you sing at the top of your beautiful voice, and you know what can come out of your body.
‘And it’s not just what you can do for an audience or how you tell a story, it’s that you can make that sound. Maria said something—she said she doesn’t like to hear records, because they’re perfect.’
Jolie also touched on taking her daughter to see Wicked.
They discussed how singing opera in Maria helped Jolie find her voice as the siren admitted that for many years she believed she did not have a voice
That made her feel she was perhaps not good enough to sing opera in a film, said the star as she wore an ivory suit with her honey blonde hair down
Erivo wore a black top and large white skirt with stylish white pumps in images taken by Alexi Lubomirski as she talked about singing in Wicked
‘I can’t not talk about some of the joy of this film that you’ve made,’ said the ex of Brad Pitt.
‘I remember taking my daughter—a few of my children, but my one daughter—who, when she watched Defying Gravity, I remember that moment. Because as a mom, we want art to have an influence.
‘I felt that feeling of “Oh, she needs this—she’s feeling this desire to know that there’s endless possibility and something within her she hasn’t discovered yet.”
‘This was how I was feeling about it in that moment. I loved seeing it live. I loved, loved when it came at the end of this film.’
Erivo revealed what it was like singing live for Wicked.
‘With Broadway, you have to perform to the back of the house. You want them to see everything, you want them to be able to read the emotions, so you have to send it out. When on camera, Jon Chu, our director, took us off track. There were no tracks; we just agreed to sing live on set…When we were doing a song like ‘For Good’ [for ‘Wicked: Part Two’], there’d be silence in my ears, and he’d say, ‘You start, and the pianist will come in.’
‘We could even include all the breaks in the voice; if it turns into a whisper, then it turns into a whisper, and then you can build from there. That was really the joy of being able to do all of that on set, because you could really connect in the moment, change your mind in the moment.’
Maria has already been released in movie theaters. It went to Netflix on December 11
Wicked opened in movie theaters in November; seen with Ariana Grande
Erivo on Defying Gravity: ‘There was this huge responsibility, because it’s such a well-known song.
‘And people know it; people love it. I really wanted to mean it. The physical work of it was hard, because I’m in a harness: I’m flying and I’m singing at the same time—so many things are happening. That was new for me, to figure out how my body, my brain, my voice, would all come together to work as one. I felt really proud of being able to figure that physical, practical side of it. But I think in order to get to a point where I could rule the words, I really thought of all of the journey of getting to that moment.
‘Not just in the making of this particular project, but the journey I’ve taken to get to here: being at drama school at 20, putting myself through, finishing at 23, not getting jobs and not really being seen and not really feeling accepted—feeling very odd, very different. And having to figure out how to make my own way through this, because this business is hard, and this business is very hard when you’re a Black girl who’s singing.’
Maria has already been released in movie theaters. It will appear on Netflix on December 11.
