The Playlist’s critic at the 2024 Venice Film Festival did not appreciate Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” as much as this pundit, but there are few awards observers who don’t believe the film’s star, Angelina Jolie, isn’t in the running for her third Best Actress nomination. The 2020 Best Supporting Actress winner portrays the legendary Opera diva Maria Callas in her final days in 1970s Paris. Netflix, who acquired the movie after Venice, released the first teaser trailer which you can find embedded in this post.
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The “Tomb Raider” star spent seven months training to play Sallas and the musical performances in the film are reportedly a combination of Sallas’ original recordings and Jolie’s audio contributions. Although spoiler, this teaser suggests Callas isn’t ready for a final spotlight…yet. Written by Steven Knight, the cast also includes Alba Rohrwacher (“My Brilliant Friend”) as Sallas’ maid Bruna, Pierfrancesco Favino (“The Traitor”) as her butler Bruno, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as an ambiguous interviewer, Mandrax. The movie also features stellar costumes by Massimo Cantini Parrini.
“Maria” is Larrain’s third installment in this series of iconic 20th Century Women. The first in the series, “Jackie,” saw Natalie Portman earn an Oscar nomination for portraying Jackie Kennedy. The second, “Spencer,” was a very imaginary look at a period of Princess Diana‘s life and propelled Kristen Stewart to her first Academy Award nom. He previously collaborated with Netflix for “El Conde” last year. That black-and-white political vampire tale saw Edward Lachman nominated for Best Cinematography.
Jolie has some stiff competition just to make the Best Actress field. Other contenders include fellow Netflix star Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Perez”), Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Zendaya (“Challengers”), Amy Adams (“Nightbitch”), Saoirse Ronan (“The Outrun”), Demi Moore (“The Substance”), Kirsten Dunst (“Civil War”), and Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), among others. Oh, and that doesn’t even count “Perez’s” Zoe Saldana who is in danger of being pushed to lead by Oscar branch voters (because it’s a lead performance).
“Maria” opens in select theaters on November 27. It debuts on Netflix on December 11.