Maria, a film from Chilean director Pablo Larraín (Jackie) that casts Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) as late opera star Maria Callas, will be screened as part of the 62nd New York Film Festival.
Screening dates for the new film have yet to be announced. The upcoming Festival runs September 27–October 14; click here for more information.
Set during Callas' final days in Paris in the 1970s, the film has a
screenplay by Steven Knight, the creator
of Peaky Blinders. Larraín and Knight previously collaborated on Spencer,
the biopic about the late Princess Diana. Maria will first premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival August 29.
Maria also features Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino, and Valeria Golino.
“I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge,” Jolie previously told the Hollywood Reporter. “Pablo Larraín is a director I have long admired. To be allowed the chance to tell more of Maria’s story with him, and with a script by Steven Knight, is a dream.”
Larraín added, “Having the chance to combine my two most deep and personal passions, cinema and opera, has been a long-awaited dream. To do this with Angelina, a supremely brave and curious artist, is a fascinating opportunity. A true gift.”
Maria is produced by Fabula Pictures' Juan de Dios Larraín, Fremantle Company's Apartment Pictures' Lorenzo Mieli, and Komlizen Film's Jonas Dornbach.
This is not the first Callas' life has been dramatized. Callas' famed mentoring sessions at Juilliard were immortalized in the late Terrence McNally's Master Class, which opened on Broadway in 1995 and won Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actress in a Play for Zoe Caldwell, and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Audra McDonald. Caldwell, who played Callas, was succeeded by Tony winner Patti LuPone and Designing Women's Dixie Carter. Oscar winner Faye Dunaway starred in the national tour, and Tony winner Tyne Daly headed the cast of the 2011 Broadway revival.
Oscar-winning actor Jolie is also part of the producing team of the new Broadway musical The Outsiders, which won the 2024 Tony for Best Musical.
