In Maria, Angelina Jolie takes on the role of renowned soprano, Maria Callas. Throughout the film, there are many closeups of Jolie-as-Maria performing, leading viewers to wonder: Is Angelina Jolie really singing in Maria, or is she lip syncing to Maria Callas recordings?

If you’re going to play legendary opera singer Maria Callas in a movie, you’re going to have to know how to sing—or be very, very good at faking it. For Angelina Jolie in Maria on Netflix, which began streaming today,

Angelina Jolie does sing in the film "Maria," her director says, but it's a blend of her voice and Maria Callas.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Angelina Jolie plays the renowned opera singer Maria Callas in this biopic, which like the other similar films from its director Pablo Larraín tells this enormously impactful person's story through the prism of a fixed moment in her life.

Callas, known as “La Divina” (The Divine), was an American-born Greek soprano who rose to fame in the 1950s and is often credited with the bel canto revival. She is considered one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century and one of the greatest divas of all time due to both her talent and her temperamental reputation.

Certainly, that’s one takeaway from Pablo Larraín's new Maria Callas biopic, Maria. Maria stars Angelina Jolie as the famed Greek American opera singer who rose to fame in a flash and burned out just as spectacularly.