Angelina Jolie 'terrified' of Maria role

Angelina Jolie was "terrified" to take on the role of Maria Callas in 'Maria'.

The 49-year-old actress portrays the iconic opera singer in Pablo Larrain's movie and she admitted she worried about taking on such an important role.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I was terrified. Pablo was very clear that if I tried my best, he would support my process and help me. He helped by scheduling the most intimate moments first and high pressure toward the end. ... He treated me like a singer, and it meant the world that he believed I could do it."

"Pablo had a coach with me the entirety of the film and classes nightly after shooting."

And, Pablo said he knew Angelina could do the late singer justice.

He explained: "I grew up going to the opera with my mom, and I always admired so much about Maria Callas and her music. "It was quite scary in the beginning, to be honest with you, because there are so few movies about opera and opera singers and the opera world. So that was kind of scary. But we took the chance.""

"I met Angelina a couple times before this process, discussing other projects that never came together, and I felt that she was someone that was a worker, someone that could really have the discipline to do something like this. "When I invited her to do this, I didn't know that she was entirely sure on how tough this was going to be for her. ... She is someone that is very determined, so when the preparation for the role started, I think she saw - and somehow I did, too - the right path to get there and that the mountain was a huge one to climb ... and she just went for it.""

Angelina added; "Pablo tries to be fair as he studies and shapes moments within their lives. His empathy and interest make him a wonderful director for such material."