Angelina Jolie Was ‘Terribly Nervous’ to Take on Role of Opera Diva Maria Callas

A newly blonde Angelina Jolie returned to the Venice Film Festival red carpet for the first time in 17 years… and did not disappoint.

Angie arrived by boat with her “Maria” castmates and stopped to put on a fashion show with a long, black, sleeveless gown, then headed straight to her fans, where she signed autographs before the big premiere.

Jolie plays world-famous opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” which follows the star’s final days in Paris in the 1970s.

Angelina just revealed she faced one of her biggest fears, transforming into the renowned soprano and actually singing in the film.

At a Venice press conference, Jolie shared, “Everybody here knows I was terribly nervous. I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work, and you really learn and train.”

The Oscar winner explained she “had not sung in public,” adding, “My first time singing I remember being so nervous. My sons were there, and they helped lock the door so that nobody else was coming in, and I was shaky,” she said. “Pablo, in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in La Scala. So, he gave me time to grow.”

When asked about awards buzz, Jolie insisted it was all about honoring Maria and her fans. “My fear would be to disappoint them,” she said. “If there’s a response to the work, I’m very grateful, but… I really came to care for her, so I didn’t want to do a disservice to this woman.”

As for relating to her character, the 49-year-old said with a laugh, “There’s a lot I won’t say in this room that you probably know and assume,” adding, “I related to the part of her that is extremely soft and didn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was and as emotionally open as she truly was. I think I share her vulnerability more than anything.”

Callas may have been known as the world’s greatest diva, but the word has new meaning for Jolie.

“I think it’s often come with a lot of negative connotations,” she said. “I think I’ve relearned that word through Maria, and I have a new relationship to it. I think it is often other people’s perceptions of a woman that defines who she is and what she intended.”