Angelina Jolie recently spoke about her experience of playing Maria Callas in director Pablo Larrain’s latest directorial film, Maria. In an interview, the actor called it a “once in a lifetime” role, adding, “It is certainly the most challenging.” Written by Steven Knight and produced by Fremantle, Larrain’s directorial venture is biographical psychological drama about opera singer Maria Callas.

It took Jolie seven months to memorise six of the tragic arias linked with Callas, who died of a heart attack at her Paris home on September 16, 1977, at the age of 53. While playing such a role requires a certain responsibility, Jolie said that she always wanted to collaborated with Larrain and this kind of character is not offered to her very often. She elaborated, “And if it’s asked of me, it’s not often with this kind of material and this director, so these things come once in a lifetime,” she added.