Angelina Jolie is really singing in the Netflix biopic 'Maria' — but there's a catch

• Angelina Jolie portrays late singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's new film "Maria."
• She spent seven months taking singing, voice, and Italian classes for the role.
• Jolie is really singing in the movie, but her vocals are mixed with the real Callas.'

Angelina Jolie transforms into famed soprano Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's new biopic "Maria," and yes, the actor is singing for real.

"Maria," which is now streaming on Netflix after being released in select theaters earlier this year, follows Callas in the days leading up to her death at 53 of a heart attack. in 1977. The film addresses her weight loss, the decline of her voice, and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis.

Flashbacks in the film show Callas in the prime of her career, performing to packed audiences. But in most of the movie, the singer is shell of her former self, struggling to hit the right notes and sound the way she used to. It's a heavy role for Jolie, who hasn't acted in a film in three years, and she's generating awards season buzz for her performance.

Jolie spent seven months taking singing, voice, and Italian classes

"Maria" marks Jolie's first time singing publicly. The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that she stopped singing because of an unnamed ex who was unkind to her about her voice.

"And so I just assumed I couldn't really sing," she said. "I'd been to theater school, so it was weird that it even had an effect on me. I just kind of adapted to this person's opinion. So it took me getting past a lot of things to start singing."

After Jolie was cast as Callas, she started training to sing opera. In doing so, she discovered that like Callas, she was also a soprano.

"Learning to sing and to enjoy singing, I was very, very shy stepping through this whole process," she said.

Jolie also told Deadline that throughout filming, she had nightly rehearsals to prepare for the following day of shooting.

"It was living as a singer," she said. "I don't play the piano, but I had to learn little bits. Wherever I went, whether it was a dressing room or hotel room, we always had to have the piano, the keyboard, the teacher nearby, and at night it was the warm-ups."

Jolie is really singing in 'Maria,' but her voice was blended with Callas'

According to THR, Jolie sings six pieces in "Maria" and some of Callas' real vocal tracks were incorporated into the mix.

Larraín told the publication that it wasn't possible to cut corners and simply play Callas' vocals while Jolie lip-synched; the actor portraying Callas had to have real singing capabilities.

"With opera, because of the pitch and the structure of the melody, it's so specific that you have to be very accurate," he said. We couldn't have taken another path."

Larraín elaborated on the technical aspect of the role in his interview with Deadline. The director explained that Jolie wasn't mimicking Callas' voice on set. Instead, the actor wore an earpiece while singing, and her voice was the the only one that the cast and crew heard while shooting.

After filming Jolie's performances, her voice was mixed with the real Callas'.

"We needed to capture that, capture every sound that's made, and then bring it into the mixing stage, and then choose how to blend both voices," Larraín said. "So there's always a part of a fragment of Angie singing and that's what gives truth. Otherwise, it won't be possible. You'll never believe it."

"Maria" is streaming on Netflix.