Angelina Jolie took time out from her career but is back with a vengeance now with her most acclaimed performance in years as opera star Maria Callas in Maria, and as a director for Without Blood, which she shot largely in Rome at Cinecitta with Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir. She was on the film festival circuit this fall with both, and as she tells me in a new episode of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side the time is right to come back full force.
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For Pablo Larraín’s Maria, which is set during the last weeks of the opera star’s life, Jolie dug deep into the character and trained for seven months to learn how to sing like her — discovering to her surprise she was actually a soprano. It came in handy as the vocal tracks blend the voices of Jolie and the inimitable Callas. But she also worked hard to forge a connection with Callas as she was off stage, fighting back from trauma and pain.
It is, as they say, a bravura performance and has put Jolie back in the heart of the Oscar race, a place she knows well having won Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted near the beginning of her screen career, and another Oscar for her humanitarian efforts around the globe (The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award).
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We talk about the renewed energy for her as an artist on all fronts, her desire to tackle another (age-appropriate) action role after making her mark in such blockbusters as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Maleficent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Gone in 60 Seconds, Eternals and Salt among others. Would she want to do comedy? She answers that here and names one that might give you a clue as to what kind of comedy she’d spark to. She also has fond memories of working with Clint Eastwood and what she learned during The Changeling.
We also talk about the dividing line between movies in which she stars and those she directs, and why it is difficult to merge the two into one. Jolie also picked up a Tony Award as a producer of this year’s Best Musical, The Outsiders. She is clearly very busy these days.
To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of things from Angelina Jolie, watch the video above.
Join me every week this Oscar season for another edition of The Actor’s Side.