VENICE - Angelina Jolie confessed she was afraid of not being able to "live up" to Maria Callas's legend in her new biopic about the great diva's extraordinary yet tragic life that premiered on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.
In "Maria", the American movie star tackles the tormented final years of the 20th century's most celebrated opera singer who mesmerised audiences around the world.
"The bar in this... are the Maria Callas fans and those who love opera," Jolie told a press conference ahead of the premiere of the movie by Chilean director Pablo Larrain.
"And my fear would be to disappoint them."
"I really came to care for her so I felt I didn't want to do a disservice to this woman," she added.
Jolie said she hoped to honour the "legacy" of the diva, who died nearly alone in 1977 aged 53, after a whirlwind life and career that was nevertheless marked by great sadness.
One of 21 films in competition for Venice's prestigious Golden Lion prize, "Maria" opens with a whirlwind edit of the highlights of Callas's life as seen through the eyes of the paparazzi, with Jolie singing "Casta Diva" in Paris in her red silk wrap, accepting ovations at La Scala or frolicking with Aristotle Onassis on his yacht.
In reality, the frail artist is popping sedatives and remembering those heady days of her life -- most of them onstage -- through drug-induced flashbacks, in the tour-de-force performance by Jolie.
"Music is born of distress," says Callas, as she vainly struggles to find her faltering voice yet again, sheltering at home in the company of her trusted butler and housemaid (played by Pierfrancesco Favino and Alba Rohrwacher) and occasionally breaking the monotony to sit alone in cafes to "be adored".
Jolie said she studied for nearly seven months ahead of filming, training herself to mimic the great artist's cadences and tones as the film mixes in her own singing voice with that of the celebrated soprano.
"I was terribly nervous," Jolie said. "I was frightened to live up to her."
Jolie said she related to Callas's gentler side, "the part of her that's extremely soft and doesn't have room in the world to be as soft as she truly was, and as emotionally open as she truly was."
"I share her vulnerability more than anything."