Angelina Jolie is dropped at tears with 8-minute standing ovation

Angelina Jolie was moved to tears after receiving an eight-minute standing ovation at the premiere of her biopic Maria at Venice Film Festival in Italy on Thursday. 

The Changeling star, 49, looked visibly emotional and was seen wiping away tears after the audience at Sala Grande stood up to applaud her.

In another touching display the actress — who plays the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the film — momentarily covered her mouth with her hand. 

Jolie, who’s currently in the throes of a protracted divorce from Brad Pitt, 60, was pictured being escorted down the stairs by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, 48, as the crowd continued to clap for her.

She spoke about the project during a press conference held Thursday afternoon before the screening, and revealed that she spent approximately seven months preparing for the demanding role. 

She worked with opera singers and coaches to master the correct posture, breathing, and movement techniques.

She added that immersing herself in the world of opera provided ‘therapy I didn’t know I needed.’

‘I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out. 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.’

She also shared that the part of Callas she most related to was ‘the part of her that’s extremely soft and doesn’t have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was — as emotionally open as she truly was. I share her vulnerability more than anything.’

Earlier on the red carpet, Angelina managed to smile, despite recently hinting at the heavy emotional toll which her divorce from Pitt has taken on her, saying she has been through ‘despair’ and ‘pain.’

The beauty split from her film star husband after a disputed incident on a plane in 2016.

She has said in court documents that he assaulted her and some of their six children and poured wine and beer on the family in a rage. He has always denied being violent towards her or the family.

When asked about her musical tastes Angelina said: ‘I was more of a punk and I loved all music but I probably listened to The Clash more than most.’

 

‘As I have gotten older I have listened to classical music and opera. I think I still love the music I did when I was younger, I would still listen to The Clash.

‘But I think when you have felt a certain level of despair, of pain, of love at a certain point there are only certain sounds that can match that feeling and to me the immensity of the feeling encapsulated in the sounds of opera – there is nothing like it.

‘That feeling that would move all of us if we were to hear it would be the only sound that would explain that pain, so I have leant more towards it now.’

The couple’s split has also affected their six children. Earlier this month their daughter Shiloh, 18, legally dropped her father’s surname.

Shiloh, who hired and paid for her own lawyer when she filed to drop the Pitt name on her 18th birthday in May, filed to change her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie.

There have been long custody battles which ended eventually in a victory for Pitt, who got 50-50 custody in 2021 only to have it overturned on appeal.

The current situation has seen the children – Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, and Knox and Vivienne, 16 – form a tight group of seven with his former wife.

This comes amid recent claims that Pitt and Jolie’s divorce – which has now dragged on for eight years – is still ongoing as neither of the stars can ‘let it go.’

A source told People ‘their disagreements took over’ in the relationship, adding that things ‘turned nasty and it was not a good situation for anyone.’

‘All the bitterness is partly why the divorce has dragged on for so many years. Neither will let it go. You’d think they would be over it and just settle.’

Another source of recent stress for the actress has been her son Pax’s terrifying bike crash, which left him hospitalized.

Pax was released from ICU earlier this month, after being treated for crashing his electric bike into the back of a car stopped for a red light on Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Angeles on July 29.

He now begins the long road of recovery and physical therapy – and Angelina has been there every step of the way.

Meanwhile Brad reportedly feels completely helpless his son is still refusing to have any contact with him as he recovers.

According to sources, Pax ‘doesn’t want any well wishes’ from his ‘distraught dad’ Brad even though the ‘heartbroken’ Hollywood actor is determined to help out in any way possible.

An insider exclusively told DailyMail.com that Brad also wishes his family dynamic wasn’t divided and that he wasn’t getting ‘radio silence’ about his son’s health.

Angelina’s latest film is a biographical drama. It stars Angelina in the title role as Maria, with Valeria Golino as her sister Yakinthi, and Haluk Bilginer as Aristotle Onassis.

‘I take very seriously the responsibility to Maria’s life and legacy,’ Angelina said previously in a statement. ‘I will give all I can to meet the challenge.’

The Tomb Raider star also mentioned the film’s director, Pablo, whom she said she ‘long admired.’

The mother of six added: ‘To be allowed the chance to tell more of Maria’s story with him, and with a script by Steven Knight, is a dream.’

Angelina had never sung onscreen – or in public – before she signed on to star as the legendary opera singer.

‘Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous,’ the Oscar winner told reporters at a press conference.

‘I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.’

Angelina enlisted vocal coach Eric Vetro – whose clients include Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, John Legend, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Rosalía, and Charlie Puth.

‘My first time singing I remember being so nervous. My sons were there and they helped lock the door so that nobody else was coming in, and I was shaky. I was frightened,’ described Jolie.

‘Pablo, in his decency, started me in a small room and ended me in [the Paris opera house] La Scala. So he gave me time to grow.’

The former Hollywood wild child said her biggest ‘fear’ would be to ‘disappoint’ the ardent fanbase of Maria: ‘I really came to care for her, so I didn’t want to do a disservice to this woman.’

And while the film is mostly set in the seventies, Angelina appears to recreate Callas’ (born Kalogeropoulos) 1958 performance at a Paris gala, which was broadcast through Eurovision.

The New York-born Greek belter’s powerful soprano pipes had three distinct registers and measured just short of three octaves, and she performed her final concert in 1965 following a vocal decline blamed on everything from dermatomyositis, to early onset menopause, to her extreme 80lb weight loss in 1954.

Maria – who had an affair with Aristotle Onassis while he was married to former FLOTUS Jacqueline Kennedy – spent her last 11 years living in Paris after renouncing her American citizenship, and she died at age 53, from a heart attack in 1977.

Angelina is lucky enough to wear some of Callas’ real clothes in the film, including vintage fur items from Massimo Cantini Parrini’s archive collection. 

The film will cover her life story and finish with her sad death in Paris after suffering from vision problems that left her almost blind.

The director, who is best known for the bio pictures Jackie (about Jackie Kennedy, played by Natalie Portman) and Spencer (about Princess Diana, played by Kristen Stewart), said: ‘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 actress has played famous people before: In 1998 she starred as tragic supermodel Gia Carangi in Gia and in 2007 she starred as Mariana Pearl in the film A Mighty Heart.