“I was changing in the bathroom”: Angelina Jolie on where she was when she found out about her Golden Globe nomination for ‘Maria’

Angelina Jolie was in the middle of what she describes as an oddly intimate scene when she learned that she had been nominated for a Golden Globe for her titular role in Maria. In the midst of filming her upcoming film Stitches, which is set amidst the glamorous chaos of Paris Fashion Week, she noticed a change of expression on the faces of some of her closest collaborators. “I was changing in the bathroom,” says Jolie on a Zoom call from London. “My hair and make-up people, whom I work very closely with, came in with big smiles on their faces and told me the news and they were very, very excited. And then I came out and my son, who was there, gave me a hug. It was very moving to me that the people who were with me were so happy.”

This is by no means the first time that the 49-year-old American actress has received news that she’s been nominated for a Golden Globe. In fact, this is the ninth time she has had the honour, which subsequently led to winning a total of three awards (she won twice for best supporting actress for Girl, Interrupted and George Wallace and once for best actress in a made-for-TV-movie for Gia, a biopic about supermodel Gia Carangi). This January, she could take home the her fourth for best actress in a drama. “Of course, it always means a lot,” she says. “Especially when you've worked hard on something. Most of all you want your piece to resonate with an audience. That is everything. But of course, it means a lot to be acknowledged by your community.”

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Jolie is nominated for her portrayal of the legendary Greek opera singer Maria Callas in the dramatic biopic Maria, directed by Pablo Larraín. The Chilean director is also the man behind biopics on two other great iconic 20th century women: Jackie Kennedy and Diana Spencer, respectively portrayed in the films Jackie and Spencer. *Maria *is seen by many as the last installment in a trilogy.

Set in 1977 in Paris, Maria follows the final days of Callas’ life, when, at 53, she has lost her great voice and her health is ailing. The narrative is driven partially through an interview with a young reporter, played by Kodi Smit-Mcphee. “I think the beautiful thing about the piece and the script was that it centred around Maria,” notes Jolie. “Because there is Callas and there is Maria. And the centre of this story is Maria.”

Through the interview with the fictitious journalist – named Mandrax after one of the sedatives that Callas was notoriously taking – we learn about the ups and downs of her life, including her relationship with Greek business magnate Aristotle Onassis and how she came to become a singer. Most of all it reveals how the world-famous opera diva had to put on a stoic act and find her courage and strength to be able to craft her historic career. “What makes her so extraordinary is that she wasn't that strong,” says Jolie. “She was quite vulnerable. She was often sick. She was lonely. She was emotional. I think the more I learned about her, the more I respected how much it took for her to be this other thing that we know, because it didn't come to her very easy.”

The film also depicts an encounter with the then-president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. During a breakfast meeting, Callas is seen warning him of Aristotle Onassis, who later went on to marry Jackie Kennedy after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. The role of Kennedy is played by Danish actor Caspar Phillipson, who has an uncanny resemblance to the late American president and also played the role in Pablo Larrain’s Jackie. The Danish actor has now played JFK in six different movies.

“He's a lovely person and he was wonderful to work with,” says Jolie, who recognised Phillipson’s confidence in the role when he went off-script. “He did a subtle thing. But I thought it was so interesting in terms of creating the character. Because he sits down and he reaches over and he eats my blueberries. That may sound like a little thing, but there's something so assuming and appropriate and interesting about the fact that someone would dare that and have the comfort to be like ‘I'm the president and I can do this’.”

For Jolie, it was not at all a certainty that she could play someone like Callas, particularly given that she was tasked with learning to sing opera for the occasion (her voice was mixed with Callas’ own voice throughout the film). On the contrary, she was rather uncertain that she could do it. “It was terrifying,” she admits. “The whole process was. But what an amazing thing to go through your career and then find something at this stage in my life, where I'm terrified as an artist.”