Angelina Jolie is emotional over the reaction to her latest film.
Jolie, who stars as the late opera singer Maria Callas in director Pablo Larraín’s Maria, received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Thursday, Aug. 29 premiere at the Sala Grande Theater during the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
Jolie, 49, became teary-eyed as the audience applauded once the movie concluded.
The Academy Award-winning actress wiped away tears and turned her face away from the crowd. Jolie also hugged Larraín, 48, and her fellow castmates as they took in the audience’s affection for the film.
Several people posted videos of Jolie on social media during the standing ovation. “Angelina Jolie’s 8-minute standing ovation at #Venezia81 for ‘Maria’ is the most rapturous applause I’ve seen at the festival since Brendan Fraser launched his Oscar campaign for The Whale here two years ago,” Variety’s Editor-in-Chief Ramin Setoodeh wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
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For the premiere, Jolie wore a custom strapless beige Tamara Ralph gown with a fur stole covering the sleeves (which added a touch of wintery glamour), romantic drapery down the silhouette and a pleated skirt hem.
She styled her blonde hair in an effortless side-part while her glam was equally simplistic — with the exception of the bold red lip that matched her nails and elevated the monochromatic earth-tone ensemble.
Before the screening, Jolie spoke about how the role presented different challenges. The role provided her the “therapy [she] didn’t realize [she] needed,” she said at a press conference Thursday, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out,” she said. “So the challenge wasn’t the technical, it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
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Meanwhile, ahead of filming in 2022, Jolie said of taking on the role: “I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy. I will give all I can to meet the challenge. 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.”
The movie tells the “tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris,” according to a press release.
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Netflix has acquired the rights to Maria but a release date has not yet been announced.
