Angelina Jolie cheered and in tears at the Venice Film Festival

The actress wowed Italian festival-goers last night with Maria, Pablo Larraín's biopic about legendary singer Maria Callas.

It is already one of the highlights of the 81st Venice Film Festival. As chants of “Angelina! Angelina! Angelina!” fell from the balconies of the Sala Grande Theatre, Angelina Jolie burst into tears in the director's arms Pablo Larraín.

Two hours earlier, the American star walked the red carpet of the Italian festival, radiant, before showing Maria to the jury chaired by Isabelle Huppert. In the official competition, the biopic of Maria Callas thrilled festival-goers, giving an 8-minute standing ovation to the star and her filmmaker.

The Hollywood press is already making'Angelina Jolie an Oscar contender in the race for the Best Actress statuette (she was already nominated in 2009 for The exchange by Clint Eastwood).

It must be said thatAngelina Jolie gave of himself for Maria. A total performance, as Hollywood likes them, where the actress transformed herself into an opera singer, learning to push her voice. Seven months of intensive learning: “I had never sung in public“before” she confided to the press present in Venice.Which added a lot of pressure during filming, especially since I had to do it on theatre stages at La Scala in Milan or in Paris, in front of full houses!” Angelina Jolie remembers having been “very nervous“, even “trembling” and thanks Pablo Larraín to have had “the decency to start me in a small room, between us, to have me finish at La Scala. He gave me time to grow.”

Maria will be released in theaters in France on February 12, 2025. The film will be on Netflix in the USA.