Angelina Jolie in Greece Filming Maria Callas

Angelina Jolie is currently in Greece for the filming of Maria, the biopic of the tumultuous life of famed Greek opera diva Maria Callas.

The famous Hollywood actress was in Pyrgos on the Peloponnese and specifically at the Apollo theater, where some scenes are being shot.

From Pyrgos she was transferred to the seaside Katakolo town, where a yacht that has been named Christina O for the movie awaited her.

Christina O was the famous super yacht of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis with whom Maria Callas had a tempestuous relationship.

The film’s wardrobe is based on the real-life wardrobe of the Greek soprano, while the furs are by Massimo Cantini Parrini, as the film’s production consulted with environmental organization PETA on how to maintain a minimal environmental footprint.

Filming is also taking place in Paris, Budapest, and Milan.

According to the production, the movie concentrates on the last days of Callas’ life, which she spent in Paris in 1977. The screenplay is written by Steven Knight, the great creator of Peaky Blinders.

Starring alongside Jolie are actors Valeria Golino, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Maria Callas, the Greek icon with the immortal voice

The US-born, Greek-raised diva was a world-renowned opera singer. She was married to the wealthy industrialist, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, from 1949 to 1959. However, Callas’ most notable relationship was with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

The opera singer was born Sophia Cecilia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulou on December 2, 1923 in New York, but her family name was later shortened to Callas. She began performing at the young age of eight.

Maria Callas lived in New York for the first thirteen years of her life, so she was proficient in English but also spoke Greek at home with her parents. Later on, she resided mainly in Europe but often returned to the U.S. from 1959 to 1974 to perform.

Callas reminded opera that it is also a type of theater and that the “long lines of paunchy and plump singers that come along to push out a tune on center stage are no longer acceptable,” as a French correspondent wrote after her death in 1977.

Callas died at her Paris home on September 16, 1977 at the age of fifty-three after having suffered a heart attack.

Aristotle Onassis

Aristotle Onassis was one of the most famous Greeks in the entire world in the 20th century, a visionary who became one of the richest men in modern history.

For Aristotle Onassis, the most priceless of all his acquisitions was the island of Skorpios, a small, verdant island next to Lefkada in the Ionian Sea. Skorpios was a labor of love for the Greek tycoon. It was also the love nest of the two great loves of his life, Maria Callas and Jacqueline Kennedy.