ANGELINA JOLIE RETURNS TO HUNGARY

Angelina Jolie is set to return to Hungary 13 years after she directed her Golden Globe nominated debut feature film “In The Land of Blood and Honey.”

This time she will be in front of the camera, portraying the legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s movie titled “Maria”, about her last years spent in sad solitude in Paris. This will be Larrain’s first film to be shot in the Hungarian capital.

Larrain’s previous two biopics, Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana and Jackie, starring Natalie Portman, garnered Best Actress nominations for its two lead actresses. Before that, Larraín was known as the Chilean auteur behind “No”, “Neruda” and “The Club”. He plans to attend Venice Film Festival, with his latest film “El Conde” prior to shooting in October.

A vast number of films have used Budapest as a double for Paris. The Hungarian capital is full of historic districts and buildings have that special Parisian atmosphere of a grandiose and decadent city during the turn of the century. The city has been used by Steven Spielberg, for the historic Paris scenes in “Munich”; along with films such as “Bel Ami,” “Atomic Blonde” and “Monte Carlo” to name a few.

“Maria” is an Apartment Pictures production in co-operation with the German Komplizen Films and the US Fremantle Media Company and is produced by Pablo Larrain & his brother Juan de Dios Larrain.