Angelina Jolie opens up about the training required to find her singing voice to play opera singer Maria Callas in director Pablo Larrain’s biographical psychological drama Maria. In one interview with Good Morning America, the actor shared why she described her opera lessons as “therapy,” adding that in her very first lesson, she took a deep breath and cried. (Also read: Angelina Jolie says playing Maria Callas in Maria ‘helped heal a part of me’)

What Angelina said

During the interview, Angelina said: “We all don’t realize that different things that happen to us in our life – I know you’ve been through a lot of things – we keep them in our body. Everything is just locked away somewhere to help us continue. And to really sing and sing very fully, you have to unlock all that.”

She then added, “So my first lesson, I took a deep breath and just cried… and then left!”

More information

In Maria, Angelina lends her own vocals to play the famous opera singer. The actor underwent rigorous vocal training and spent about seven months memorizing six of the tragic arias associated with Callas, who died of a heart attack at his home in Paris on September 16, 1977.

Maria received a rapturous response and an eight-minute standing ovation at its world premiere in September at the Venice Film Festival. Since then, the film has premiered at the Toronto, Telluride and New York film festivals. Angelina gains strong reputation to secure an Oscar nomination in the leading actress category. She previously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Uninterrupted.

Maria follows Callas as she retreats to Paris after years in the public eye, set in her final years in the 1970s. Starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Maria will premiere on Netflix on December 11.