Angelina Jolie’s Oscar Hopes ‘Doomed From the Start’ Over Singing: Held to an ‘Impossible Standard’

Angelina Jolie went into awards season with a ton of optimism with her biopic Maria, but she lost out to Demi Moore for a Golden Globe, didn’t even get nominated for a SAG award and was ultimately snubbed at the Academy Awards – leaving her stressed and baffled to say the least, a source exclusively tells In Touch. 

“Number one, the thing that hurts Angelina is her almost total lack of a sense of humor or lightness when she talks about this movie,” says a high level insider of Angelina, 49, and her failed, Netflix-financed awards campaign, “and when you combine that with the actual movie itself, there’s this air of sadness and moroseness around her that isn’t fun.” 

The veteran actress had been banking on Maria to be her big comeback and spent months preparing to take on the role of the iconic opera singer. The insider says her seriousness may have actually hurt the optics of her awards run, turning critics off and opening her performance up to criticism. “She’s got a dark personality and Maria Callas‘ music is uplifting, but her story is not.”

“Angelina also was harmed by the fact that she didn’t do her own singing. Even though Rami Malek got away with it six years ago on Bohemian Rhapsody, the mood has shifted and awards voters value authenticity above everything,” the insider adds. The musician biopic has been a hot genre recently, with plenty of stiff competition to edge Maria out of serious contention, the source notes. “There’s also the problem of comparisons to Timmy Chalamet in A Complete Unknown. He did his own signing in that movie and absolutely killed it, stunning even his biggest naysayers. Timothée is even going on SNL next week to sing in character as Bob Dylan, live.” 

All of this great press for Timothée’s authenticity ultimately came back to hurt Angie’s Academy Award shot. “It seems like the new standard for musical biopics, even ones about opera singers, is that you really have to do the singing yourself,” the source says. “This isn’t lost on Angelina or her team, no matter how much money they throw behind her otherwise brilliant performance. Timmy’s success, plus the real singing done by the women of Wicked, completely overshadowed her.”

While the source emphasizes the amount of organized support from Netflix Angie received, it’s also worth noting the organized opposition to even her nomination this year. As In Touch previously reported, a slew of A-list talent, including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Annette Bening, Laura Dern, Mary McCormack, Andrea Riseborough and of course Angie’s spiteful ex-husband Brad Pitt have lined up to pump Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore’s Oscar hopes while trashing the Salt actress’ chances. “Jen’s group that has been proven to be able to steer the course of the nomination process,” a second source previously dished. 

With the stars arrayed against Angelina, the first source confesses, “Her heart hasn’t been in this awards campaign because she knew she would be held to this impossible standard. This was doomed from the start.”