My sons Maddox and Pax saw my pain on Maria’s set.

Angelina Jolie is notoriously private.

But in a new interview with BBC News, the Hollywood star spoke candidly about her experience working on set with her older children, saying they saw “the pain” she normally hides from them.

The actress stars in a new biographical filmtitled María, about the opera singer María Callas.

Two of Jolie’s six children with ex-husband Brad Pitt, Maddox and Pax, took on roles as production assistants on the film.

“The character (Callas) is in a lot of pain, and of course they’ve seen me go through a lot, but they haven’t experienced me expressing much of the pain that a parent normally hides from a child,” he said. saying.

“So they were there to witness some of it, but then we would hug each other or bring me cups of tea.”

Jolie added that it was “a new way” to discover how to be honest with her children about her feelings, “in an even bigger way.”

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the film focuses on Callas’s final years in the 1970s, when she lived in Paris.

Since Jolie has taken on acting roles relatively infrequently in recent years, the film has provided her with a comeback narrative of sorts and could lead to an Oscar nomination for best actress.

Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the best-known opera singers.

In Maria, a mix of Jolie’s own voice and Callas’s original recordings are used in the singing scenes.

The actress learned to sing opera for the role, something she describes as “very physically demanding.”

The training lasted about seven months, he said.

“We started with regular singing classes and it was challenging in many ways, but when opera classes started, which requires your breathing and your body and just the force of what you push through yourself, it’s just a very physicality.” different”.

Jolie, whose previous film credits include Changeling, Maleficent, Salt and Mr & Mrs Smith, said she had not sung before and was “actually quite shy about singing”.

“It was probably one of the areas of my life where I had doubts,” he said.

But he indicated that it was also something he enjoyed.

“One of the greatest privileges of being an actor is that you often have the support of a team to try something and explore something you’ve never done before and this was certainly a big challenge,” he said.

Jolie’s sons, Maddox, 23, and Pax, 21, have previously worked with her on several productions, including her film Without Blood.

They both accompanied her to the premiere of María in New York in September, along with her younger sister Zahara.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September 2016. The couple was involved in a custody battle that resulted in Pitt being he was granted joint custody in 2021.

The Hollywood stars also share daughters Shiloh and Vivienne, and another son, Knox.

On the set of the film, both Maddox and Pax were “very busy,” said director Pablo Larraín. “They were good professionals,” he added.

Jolie said that during filming, Pax recorded much of her singing practice “so he was with me in my horrible early days,” she laughed.

“It’s always good for your children to see your mother not doing something easily, but cursing, fighting, failing and having to try again,” he said.

“So that’s an important and beautiful thing.”

María is the third in a trilogy of films about complex and high-profile women from Larraín, following his films about Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana.

The film has received mixed reviews, although critics have generally praised its central performance.

“Jolie is absolutely fascinating as Maria Callas, imbuing her with grace and resolve,” said Sophia Ciminello of AwardsWatch. “She doesn’t disappear on paper, she transcends.”

Time’s Stephanie Zacharek was less interested. However, of her performance, he said that Jolie “plays the character as haughtily cold and deeply insecure, but captures none of her imperious charisma.”

Hailed as La Divina, María Callas began singing at the age of 14.

One of his most famous performances was that of Tosca, in Covent Garden, in 1964.

But vocal deterioration, possibly caused by dramatic weight loss, led to the premature end of his career.

She spent her final years living largely in isolation and died of a heart attack at age 53.

Larraín said he hoped his film would honor Callas’s desire to popularize the art form.

“If this film takes the attention on opera from one in a hundred to a million, it will be a success,” he said.

“I don’t know if there is an art form as strong as opera,” Jolie added.

“The way it connects with the soul and the body, of course, is for everyone.”

Maria will be released in UK cinemas on January 10.