'' MARIA '' ANGELINA JOLIE : HONOURS

Angelina Jolie had to learn how to sing opera to prepare for playing Maria Callas, one of the greatest sopranos of all time, saying that it was a the most demanding role of her career.

Maria, directed by Pablo Larrain, chronicles Callas's final days in Paris when she was addicted to anti-anxiety drugs. It recalls the high and low notes of her tumultuous past when she wowed audiences around the world with her astonishing voice.

'' This is the hardest, the most challenging role,''  Jolie told Reuters ahead of the movie's world premiere at the Venice Film Festival later in the day.

'' I was like on another planet because it was so beyond what I was comfortable with as a person and as an artist,'' she said, recalling scenes shot at Milan's famous La Scala opera house.

Jolie had appeared in more than 60 films,  including action packed blockbusters and emotionally charged dramas, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1999 movie Girl Interrupted.

She had told Larrain that she could sing, but then realised she needed to reach a whole different level, taking seven months out to train for the role, '' I thought I could sing like people sing in a film, you pretend to sing. And it was very clear early that I was going to really have to learn to sing because you can't  really fake opera,'' she said. [ Reuters ]