A few weeks ago, Angelina Jolie was spotted at the Met, attending a performance of Puccini’s Tosca with Pablo Larrain. It came during one of several trips she’s made to New York in recent months, almost all of which have been to promote Larrain’s Maria, where Jolie plays Maria Callas. What we didn’t know last month was that a New York Times reporter was along for the ride at the opera, and that it was all for a rather lovely piece about Jolie and about opera. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Jolie identified with Callas’s isolation. “Loneliness is not a bad thing. We’re both seen as strong, but actually we’re very vulnerable and human. I don’t think either one of us is necessarily comfortable being public.”
Jolie was worried about her singing voice: For years, she had carried the trauma of a boyfriend telling her she had a bad voice and that she should be grateful she had other talents. “It was nasty, and it was more than once. Then I stopped singing.” She told Larraín that she had “a lot of emotion and pain that I did not feel like letting go.” She was not very familiar with classical music; she had grown up listening to punk bands like the Clash. And she wasn’t sure she had the technique to sing — until that point, she had avoided even “Happy Birthday.”
She sang “Piangete voi?” at La Scala: The aria was one of the most challenging on the list, but it was also Jolie’s favorite. Dressed in a costume that matched Callas’s, with a white headpiece and navy dress, she sang before a crowd of about 500 people. “It’s like jumping off a cliff. There was just nothing I could do but try to give everything I had.”
Her mother’s death: Her mother’s death from cancer in 2007, at 56, made Jolie feel she no longer had the luxury of time. “I don’t want to be comfortable or too relaxed,” she said. “I want to live fully.”
She’s concerned about revealing too many truths. “When you are stripped of so many things that make you feel safe and whole, you really sit with what matters to you and what you want to give every breath in your body for. In the end, I found a lot of softness.” She said she hoped that despite all that, Callas was able to “feel safe to be soft and hopefully eventually rediscover a level of joy.”
Has Jolie found joy again? “I don’t know about that. But I hope for it. I hope to find a lightness that I may have lost along the way.”
There’s a lot in the Times piece about how Jolie has a rare, genuine elusiveness and not even Pablo Larrain really knows her and they worked together for months. When Jolie walked into the Met, apparently people gasped and began murmuring and trying to take her photo too. The Met let Jolie linger after Tosca – she and Pablo met several people working on the opera, and they let Jolie go on stage and examine the set. It’s actually a really lovely portrait, and Jolie’s unwillingness to talk about her personal life just made it even more interesting. I mean, she’s been doing this for a while, she knows how to talk around her eight-year-plus divorce. “When you are stripped of so many things that make you feel safe and whole” – f–k Brad Pitt. She’s spent eight years just trying to feel safe and whole again.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
- Beverly Hills, CA – Actress Angelina Jolie receives a warm welcome from fans in Beverly Hills, stopping to sign autographs and share a moment with admirers. Pictured: Angelina Jolie BACKGRID USA 28 OCTOBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Roger / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- Beverly Hills, CA – Actress Angelina Jolie receives a warm welcome from fans in Beverly Hills, stopping to sign autographs and share a moment with admirers. Pictured: Angelina Jolie BACKGRID USA 28 OCTOBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Roger / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- New York City, NY – Angelina Jolie was seen heading to dinner in New York City, radiating sophistication in a black floor-length gown paired with a velvet coat. The monochromatic look exuded timeless elegance. Pictured: Angelina Jolie BACKGRID USA 12 NOVEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Santi Ramales / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- New York City, NY – Angelina Jolie was seen heading to dinner in New York City, radiating sophistication in a black floor-length gown paired with a velvet coat. The monochromatic look exuded timeless elegance. Pictured: Angelina Jolie BACKGRID USA 12 NOVEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Santi Ramales / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- New York, NY – Actress Angelina Jolie steps out of her hotel to head to a screening of her new film ‘Maria’ in New York. Pictured: Angelina Jolie BACKGRID USA 13 NOVEMBER 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- 68th BFI London Film Festival ‘Maria’ premiere at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre Featuring: Angelina Jolie, Pablo Larraín Where: London, United Kingdom When: 18 Oct 2024 Credit: Cover Images
- Angelina Jolie is spotted arriving at the DGA Theater in New York City Featuring: Angelina Jolie Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 11 Nov 2024 Credit: Elder Ordonez/INSTARimages
- 42nd Torino Film Festival 2024 ‘Without Blood’ photocalll Featuring: Angelina Jolie Where: Turin, Italy When: 24 Nov 2024 Credit: IPA/INSTARimages **UK, USA AND AUSTRALIA RIGHTS ONLY**
- Angelina Jolie with the Stella della Mole award during the 42nd Torino Film Festival 2024 Featuring: Angelina Jolie Where: Turin, Italy When: 24 Nov 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I think that people have an image of her in their heads that is at odds with the reality. I’m glad Salma Hayek was able to forge a genuine friendship with Angie. I really want her to find peace and live life on her own terms.
I saw a clip the other day of when she was on the red carpet with Billy Bob Thornton and she was kind of tonguing his face😂. They were so feeling each other in that moment! She was in that grey shirt and the black leather pants. Not sure if that was when they talked about the vials of blood or having sex in the limo? Anyways, I do think sometimes people look back to that. She’s always been her own person no matter what. Bc she is that person but she’s also shy. But we like to box people in and she doesn’t fit easily which makes people uncomfortable and unkind .
Fair enough and she doesn’t deserve to be abused, no one does. Laura Dern and Jennifer Aniston may have something to say about being stripped of things that make you feel safe and whole as well.
Really? Team Jennifer vs Team Angelina is so…2005. You don’t need to use Dern and Aniston as fronts for your own pettiness.
Laura Dern broke up Billy bob’s marriage with two kids when she got with him. She then got with a married musician and was pregnant the same time his wife was pregnant. Jennifer Aniston got with Justin Theroux when he was in a 14 yr relationship with Heidi bivens. Everything she accused Angie of she did herself. Yet their mean girl group still shades Angie? Make it make sense!!!!
Are they shading Angelina? All three of these women have moved on with their lives.
The same Jennifer Aniston who wrecked 3 relationships? And the same Laura Dern who got together with Billy Bob while he was married to his second wife? And same Laura who got together with her baby daddy who was married with a pregnant wife? The children are only few months apart.
Pretty sure she wasn’t necessarily talking about divorce but about abuse, about having no privacy in terms of emails and letters and anything she says. About being served every time she turns around, about being subject to financial abuse. About the way the courts treated her children. Pretty sure what makes you feel safe is the knowledge that your rights are being respected and when that stops happening, you don’t feel safe anymore.
Rather a different level than simply a breakup or a divorce.
I hate to bring comments about her back to her ex but I think this is part of what he’s been so afraid of and spent years and a ton of PR $$$ to try and get ahead of, when she’s out and about being herself people are fascinated and thrilled by her.
brad sometimes couldn’t even hide the fact that he was jealous that people were more interested in her than him. and she was always the one getting the attention, whether she wanted it or not. he was just an accessory.
That’s why he tried to cage her and break her spirit. It was obvious his wants and needs had to take priority hence his anger at her and the kids.
People are more interested in her, because she’s just more interesting.