Angelina Jolie Is ‘Trying to Lay Low’ as She Prepares for Return to the Big Screen in Maria Callas Biopic

Angelina Jolie is no stranger to flying solo, but lately she’s been shying away from company more than ever as she focuses on her kids, her ongoing legal drama with ex-husband Brad Pitt and work.

A source exclusively tells In Touch that the 49-year-old actress has zero room for anything else in her life as she prepares for the release of director Pablo Larraín‘s Maria Callas biopic.

“Angie is in a weird spot right now as she gets ready to roll out her Maria Callas movie this fall: she’s trying to lay low while staying connected to the movie business in Los Angeles and letting people know that she’s in the Oscar race this year without appearing too cocky or arrogant,” reveals an insider familiar with the situation.

The film, in which Angelina plays opera singer Maria Callas, “tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970’s Paris,” according to its synopsis. It marks her return to the big screen since starring in 2021’s Eternals.

In a September 2023 interview with Vogue, Angelina said she’s “in transition as a person,” revealing, “I feel a bit down these days. I don’t feel like I’ve been myself for a decade.”

And it appears that she doesn’t have many people to lean on. “It’s especially hard on Angie because she doesn’t have a mob of connected girlfriends who are helping her spread the word [about the upcoming film] and socially circulate herself,” says the In Touch source. “She has her business team, and her kids, and that’s pretty much all she has to work with right now.”

In fact, Angelina took daughter Vivienne, 15, as her date to the 77th annual Tony Awards in New York City on Sunday, June 16, to celebrate the success of the Broadway musical The Outsiders, which she coproduced.

According to the source, she doesn’t have time for dating. “Even getting into a new relationship seems like a bridge too far for her when the thing she is really concerned about is that everybody who might be interested in her film knows it exists and is ready to go buy a ticket for it,” explains the insider. “Introducing any other variables into that equation would be a distraction.”

She has plenty of distractions as it is. She and ex-husband Brad — who also share kids Shiloh, 18, Zahara, 19, Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, and Knox, 15 — are still locked in a bitter legal war over the sale of her share of their Château Miraval winery.

While she’s excited about her upcoming film, says the source, “She knows she has to steer clear of her haters and the Brad Pitt loyalists she’s constantly crossing paths with as she quietly beats the drum for this movie.”

Plus, she’s gunning for Oscar gold. “Remember, it’s been 25 years since she won her Oscar [for Girl, Interrupted], and she’s hungry to get back in the game and by all accounts, she deserves a shot with this movie. But Angie is in a class by herself when it comes to movie actresses, and that’s a huge problem for her when it comes to making friends on her level and, indeed, keeping them.”

The source notes, “She’s resigned to the fact that if she’s going to make it all the way to the Oscars this year, she’s basically going to be doing it alone.”