How Monica Bellucci confronts stage fright every night, playing opera diva Maria Callas

Actress and model Monica Bellucci is no stranger to the limelight, but her latest role makes her tremble with fear

She is playing opera diva Maria Callas on stage in Paris, something she finds much more intimidating

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Monica Bellucci talks about playing Maria Callas and how working in the theatre gives her stage fright. Photo: Christophe Simon/AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 4 Mar 2020Updated: 9:53pm, 5 Mar 2020

It seems hard to believe, but Monica Bellucci – who has spent four decades in the limelight as a model and actress – says she suffers from stage fright.

Now appearing on stage in Paris and incarnating opera singer Maria Callas, the Italian diva confesses experiencing pure “terror”. “It is not that I was afraid of theatre, I am still afraid of theatre. I tremble,” says the 55-year-old. “Going on stage is almost a kind of violence that I put myself through.”

Bellucci is playing the 20th-century opera star in a month-long show Maria Callas: Lettres et Memoirs (Maria Callas: Letters and Memories) at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris until March 28.

Film acting, says the actress who has played in two The Matrix movies and was a Bond girl in the 2015 movie Spe ctre, is less intimidating. “When one makes a film, it is as if one is protected from the outside world. With theatre, one breathes in the public and the public breathes you in. There is a direct contact …”

It is also less taxing. With theatre, adds Bellucci, one’s concentration must last for the duration of the show. With film, scenes are shot one by one, with rests between. Only once, in Gaspar Noe’s film Irréversible: Inversion Intégrale has she shot a scene that lasted as long as 20 minutes, she recalls.

In spite of her fear, Bellucci says she was captivated by director Tom Volf’s project on Callas, known for her tragic love affair with the Greek billionaire Aristotle Onassis almost as much as for her captivating voice.