Angelina Jolie on Performing in 'Maria' and Never Letting Go of Her Character: "She's My Sister Now"

Hi, it's so nice to meet you. Pablo has said that this film is about how Maria found her own voice and started singing for herself. Did you find that working on this movie, you found your voice and started performing for yourself in any way, and if so, how? I don't, yes. I definitely, I don't know if I performed, well, there may have been moments where, yes, I've never been asked that, so, yes, I think, I think I did find my voice again. I think I did, I think I'd never sung at the top of my voice. I'd never had support to learn how to do it, I'd never tried, and also I'd never had people take the time to talk to me about Puccini and Verdi and opera, and I wish they had, but I, and I was so grateful that I was in that space where I was being given all this knowledge and care, and so I felt like I opened up as an artist, and then, yeah, you make those huge sounds, which I recommend everybody do, and you kind of, yeah, you wake certain parts of yourself up that I think are very important, too, especially as you get older and you forget certain aspects of yourself. When I was speaking to one of your vocal coaches earlier, he said that in the first couple times of working with you, he knew you had this voice inside of you. At what point did you realize that you could sing like this and had this big voice? Oh, it took me much longer, that's very sweet, he was so supportive and so kind. It took me a while, and I think I'd be that person where I'd suddenly push and I'd try, and it would sound weird, and then I'd push and I'd try, and then I'd push and I'd make some sound that I didn't know, and I'd stop and I'd look like a little kid who got so shocked that it came out of my mouth, so I definitely had those moments of, oh, I made that sound, and I didn't know I ever could, so yeah, I was, I mean, I still can't, I don't really consider myself a singer, but I got through this one, so. Finally, you've said making this film was such an intense process, how did you let go of Maria after filming was over? I don't know if I have, I don't know if they'll let me, I feel like, you know, I've played a few real people in my life, and you carry them with you, it's different than other characters, because you feel like she's my sister now, she's somebody who I know quite intimately, and I really had to fall in love with to hope that I could help other people understand her, and I had to understand her to hope I was saying and doing the right thing, and so no, I'll always hear her music and maybe smile a little bit differently than someone else, because I feel close. It was so great meeting you, thank you so much.