Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie received an eight-minute standing ovation for her latest film at the 2024 Venice Film Festival
Angelina 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.
Angelina Jolie, 49, became teary-eyed as the audience applauded once the movie concluded.
The Academy Award-winning actress wiped away tears, briefly turning 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 Fraserlaunched his Oscar campaign for The Whale here two years ago,” Variety’s Editor-in-Chief Ramin Setoodeh wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
For the premiere, Jolie wore a custom strapless beige Tamara Ralph gown with a fur stole covering the sleeves, romantic drapery down the silhouette and a pleated skirt hem.
She paired her look with a bold red lip that matched her nails, contrasting the monochromatic earth-tone ensemble.
Maria Reviews: What Critics Are Saying About Angelina Jolie’s Transformation and Singing as the Opera Diva
Before the screening, Jolie spoke about how the role presented different challenges. Playing the renowned soprano provided her the “therapy I didn’t realize I 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.”
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.
Netflix has acquired the rights to Maria but a release date has not yet been announced.