Angelina Jolie Goes Deep on Oprah for ‘Maria’, Says Pablo Lauren

With (about Jacqueline Kennedy) and (about Princess Diana), Chilean director Pablo Llorín closes his trilogy of famous women of the 20th century. But the director says he never planned the films to be a group, even though they were connected in more ways than one.

“I never thought I’d do three of them — I never had any kind of master plan,” explains Lauren, whose other credits include, and. “They all have a lot in common: All three are stories about women who were at the heart of very interesting historical moments. They were women who belonged to strong families—or men, if you will—and who She was about finding her own identity, her own voice, and being able to exist as someone who really didn’t need anyone else to say what she wanted to say.”

Lauren says that Darren Aronofsky, who produced (with Natalie Portman famously portraying the first lady), brought her into the film, and it quickly reshaped her thinking. “Natalie came in and did something beautiful,” he recalls. “I learned a lot, and I understood not only what Jackie’s relevance was in America and eventually the world, but I also understood how a lead actress can really understand the character, ultimately better than I did. is.”

Portman called her time with Lauren on set “a revelation.”

“He always had the most interesting notes – often going against what I thought my character would feel at the time – but I always found that he created incredible dramatic tension in scenes,” Portman explains, recalling a scene where Lauren’s direction stuck. He said: “There was a scene with me and the priest in the car. And Pablo told him to be bored and anxious to go – which is the last thing in the world I imagined for JFK’s funeral. would be priests – but it created this underlying tension and edged towards a scene that could have been very serious.”

(Kristen Stewart played the late princess), Lauren felt like there had never been a movie about Princess Diana that she thought was particularly interesting, even though she always got a lot of attention. has been concentrated. “There’s so much about it that represents so many people,” Lauren says. “Even though it’s a story about a princess and the royal family of England, it’s something that strangely touches a lot of people, not just women.”

And Then Came, which tells the story of opera singer Maria Callas, portrayed in the film by Angelina Jolie. To Lauren, Oprah had a personal connection to the world. “I grew up going to the opera with my mother, and I always admired Maria Callas and her music,” he explains. “To be honest with you, it was quite scary at first, because there are very few films about opera and opera singers and the world of opera. So it was kind of scary. But we took a chance.”

With, there was a unique challenge: for the first time in the trilogy, Larraín was showcasing an artist, and not just any artist—that changed the history of opera. This meant that whoever was cast as Callas had to know how to sing opera.

“I met Angelina a couple of times before the process, talking about other projects that never came together, and I realized that she was someone who was an activist, someone who was very passionate,” says Lauren. had the discipline to actually do something like that,” says Lauren. “When I invited her to do it, I didn’t know that she fully believed how hard it would be for her. … She’s someone who is very determined, so when the role was The preparations began, I think he realized—and somehow I did—that there was a right way to get there and that there was a great way to climb the mountain… and he just went for it. ”

“I was terrified,” explains Julie. “Pablo was very clear that if I did my best, he would support my process and help me. He helped by scheduling the most intimate moments first and more pressure towards the end. … He treated me like a singer, and it means the world that he believes I can do it.

They shot the film during the day, and Jolie would rehearse late every night. “Pablo had a coach with me throughout the film and took classes at night after the shoot,” says Julie. walked so they could catch her voice. “Opera is a poem in which to breathe, a posture … a physical way of standing and facing the world,” explains Julie sang opera, which sprinkled in a few of Callas’ original tracks. Lauren felt they had to find an actress who could sing herself—just playing Callas’ recordings wouldn’t help the production.

“You can’t cheat,” he says. “It’s not like if I sit in the car and play Taylor Swift and sing along, and if I know the song I can do a great job. But with opera, because of the structure of the pitch and the melody, It’s so specific that you have to be very precise. We couldn’t have gone any other way.” In total, Jolie sang six songs during the film.

Born out of her deep respect for Callas, Lauren created a chronological table of events in her life in her research for the film. She spent months reading biographies — about 10 — to really get to know the woman who changed music. “No one reads more books about their subject than Pablo,” says production designer Guy Hendricks Dice. But it was in his research where he realized the line between fact and fiction, noticing that half of what was written in each biography was the same, while the rest differed from book to book. And this is where he knew he could take some creative liberties with the story. After all, he wasn’t making a biographical film.

“There’s always a big part of it that’s arbitrary interpretation,” he says. “No one knows whether it takes place inside the White House or inside Sandringham Palace or inside Maria Callas’ apartment. We know when she died, we know who her friends were, we know that she When Cub performs here and there, we know how long she lived with Aristotle Onassis, but there are many things we don’t know, and this is where we can put our imaginations to rest and honor and love. Can do something with some press I’ve been called negatively reverential to Maria Callas and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ It’s something I care about. I love character. I protect his legacy.”

Julie added: “Pablo tries to be fair when he studies and creates moments in their lives. His compassion and interest make him a wonderful director for this kind of material.

Portman agrees. “I think Pablo has a real appreciation for the humanity of figures who are often seen as something other than human,” she says. “He’s interested in their complexities, their messiness, their mystery.”

The cinematography, which is visually reminiscent of 1970s Paris, has been praised by critics. Stylistically, Lauren wanted to connect the three films even though they were shot by three different cinematographers—Stephen Fontaineshott, Claire Methan Lens and Ed Lachman were responsible. He wanted each film to feel as if it was shot in time, which was achieved by shooting on 16mm film and mixing it with 35mm.

“The most important thing is to have the camera very close to the actresses,” Lauren says of a common approach in his trilogy of films. “The fact that he often drives the camera really makes you feel like you’re talking to him in a scene,” notes Portman.

Lauren added: “The close-up is very relatable. You want to suffocate in terms of tight, close-up shots, and then eventually, they breathe, going very wide to show where he is, and realizing that Wyatt House, Sandringham Palace and then Maria’s apartment become a beautiful prison where they live and can finally become who they are – until they free themselves in different ways depending on the story. .

Lauren’s approach to telling women’s stories through a male lens is exactly why Stewart still thinks fondly of her production days.

“Pablo’s reverence and respect for the female form and experience is both aesthetic and spiritual,” says Stewart. “I felt like an avatar of him at times. Like he could ‘play’ Diana. That’s how close we felt in the film. The times he has to try to understand her and that healthy amount of awareness.” What he would never understand from a first-person perspective is why he is so adept at creating ways to reflect the truth and feel kind and curious His storytelling held you in. And this [big-ups] Our low emotions. His films feel like tender actors. That’s what it feels like to work for him.”