Angelina Jolie has been doing interviews and press junkets for Pablo Larrain’s Maria for months now. I know all of the talking points because Jolie has barely deviated from them, nor has she given in to anyone’s attempts to get her to talk about Brad Pitt and their neverending divorce and litigation. I wonder if that’s why Angelina hasn’t done any major American magazine cover interview too – there would be an expectation that she talk about her personal life, and Jolie is letting her lawyers do all the talking on that front. Anyway, Angelina spoke to the Times of London as part of a recent junket and I have to give it to the Times, they really teased a full profile out of what was probably less than ten minutes in a room with Jolie and Larrain. Some highlights:

She cried in her first singing lesson. “It was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. Singing opera requires you to be as emotionally open as you possibly can be — it’s not like singing in the car. It’s cathartic. I’ve never pushed myself or opened myself up in that way, that was daunting.”

She’s not chronically lonely like Maria Callas. “I don’t feel that because I have family. Maria didn’t have a family, so her work was everything. My work is not everything. Being a parent is everything.”

Jolie feels like the work has gotten better as she’s aged: “I’ve got better work as I’ve got older. I don’t think about it in terms of roles offered but in terms of life experience you contribute. It’s easier for actors than singers or dancers because your body doesn’t change.”

Divas on divas: What Jolie did relate to was Callas’s “commitment to her work”. Callas was called a diva and Jolie wants to reclaim the word from having negative connotations, especially when used towards women. “I’m a hard worker. And a deeply feeling person. Maria is vulnerable because she feels and isn’t sometimes able to protect herself from the loneliness or emotional pain. Because it’s part of her life and work to be extremely human and live that way. You live through your communication with the audience. For Maria and for me that has always been extremely important.”

Method acting: “As a young actor you say yes to everything. Can you ride horses? Can you speak this language? Then you have to learn.” For Maria she spent seven months doing intense singing lessons, as well as taking Italian classes. The score mixes her voice with Callas’s to impressive effect.

What if Larrain made a bio-pic of Jolie: So what would a Larraín biopic about Jolie be like? That’s when I get full scorn. “That gets the most insane question award,” Jolie says and she and Larraín laugh for slightly too long. “When you’re a public person and you’re playing her, you’re conscious of how you would hate for somebody to interpret your life or think they understand your life, so we tried to be thoughtful. Let’s hope there isn’t one about my life.”

[From The Times]

The Times journalist was expressly forbidden from asking personal questions or questions about Brad, but even if the journo had managed it, Angelina would have just given a withering look and stayed silent. It keeps the focus on Maria, which Angelina is obviously very proud of. I’m curious about this statement: “I’ve got better work as I’ve got older.” Eh. That’s not really true. Yes, I don’t know what scripts and projects Angelina has been offered, but we know what she’s said “yes” to and there’s a reason why people forget almost everything she’s acted in for the past decade. There’s a reason why Maria keeps being described as a “comeback” for Jolie, you know? I think Jolie legitimately wanted to work less, stay closer to home and focus on her family in the past eight years. But I also think the roles and the scripts were not there, as they’re not there for many actresses in their 40s.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Netflix.