Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain can’t be overlooked when he makes a film about a famous woman with a tragic backstory, as has been the case with his other films, including “Spencer,” starring Kristen Stewart and “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman – both of which also premiered in competition at Venice.
This time, Larrain teams up with screenwriter Steven Knight, who also created “Peaky Blinders,” and Angelina Jolie to bring opera singer Maria Callas to life in the film “Maria.”
The soprano diva was a tabloid star, perhaps best known for her affair with Aristotle Onassis who eventually left her for another tragic woman: Jacqueline Kennedy, whose story was also made into a film directed by Pablo Larrain.
Callas died in 1977, at the age of 53, but she remains one of classical music's best-selling artists.
Angelina Jolie previously attended the festival in 2004, bringing her son Maddox to the out-of-competition premiere of her animated film “Shark Tale.” She returned in 2007 to support then-partner Brad Pitt at the premiere of his western, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
“Maria” is now playing in the prestigious competition and is looking for the right film distribution company.
“Maria” is one of 21 films competing for the Golden Lion. The other 20 include Todd Phillips’ sequel “Joker: Folie a Deux;” Walter Salles’ “I'm Still Here;” and the erotic thriller “Babygirl,” starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson from filmmaker Halina Reijn.
Also appearing are Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burrough’s novel “Queer,” with Craig and Jason Schwartzman; and Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language film, “The Room Next Door,” starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Set in New England, Almodovar says the film is about an imperfect mother and a vengeful daughter.
Next up is Justin Kurzel’s ’80s-set crime thriller “The Order,” about a white supremacist group starring Jude Law as an FBI agent, Nicholas Hoult and Jurnee Smollett, as is Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” starring Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones and Joe Alwyn. Shot in 70mm, the 215-minute epic follows a Hungarian Auschwitz survivor who makes his way to the United States.
The Venice Film Festival runs until September 7. (lt/ab)
