“Maria” and “Jackie” take place on the same timeline, but Pablo Larraín insists he's 'not doing a multiverse'

Warning: This article contains light spoilers for Maria.

Marvel, DC, and Star Wars can relax — director Pablo Larraín is not getting into the multiverse game.

While his latest movie, Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas, takes place in the same cinematic world as his critically lauded 2016 drama Jackie, which starred Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, the filmmaker tells Entertainment Weekly he was not going out of his way to create the next MCU.

"I'm not doing a multiverse at all," the director explains. "In reality, they were very close. They belonged to the same sort of social group of people back then. Of course, the figure of Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas' life were very painful."

Larraín addressed the connection when asked about the repeated references to Jackie Kennedy and the appearance of John F. Kennedy (played by Caspar Phillipson, who also played the 35th president in Jackie) in Maria.

Related: 2025 Oscar nominations predictions: See contenders for Best Picture and acting, from Angelina Jolie to Colman Domingo

Larraín also points to a scene in Maria that sees Callas attend a performance by fellow icon Marilyn Monroe, as one that further deepens the film's web of celebrity relationships.

"Maria Callas sang 'Carmen' for everyone [at the same event as Marilyn Monroe], for Kennedy, so they knew each other quite well, and there are letters between Jackie and Maria Callas because Jackie invited Maria to sing at the White House," the 48-year-old says. "They were going to go, but then the conductor got sick and couldn’t go and play the piano for her, so Maria didn’t want to do it."

The director further notes a connection between Maria and another one of his films about iconic historical women, the 2021 drama Spencer, which starred Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.

"It's all connected, like a mass of people that knew each other and somehow end up hurting each other," he observes. "We thought about doing that connection, and [the opera] Anna Bolena is so relevant in Spencer, and it’s relevant in this film as well."

Audiences and critics have so far gone along for the ride with Larraín and Jolie, as the actress is currently the statistical frontrunner to win Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars. That pattern would continue Larraín's streak of directing his leading ladies toward nominations in the category, as both Portman and Stewart scored Academy Award nominations for their performances in Jackie and Spencer.

Maria is now playing in select theaters and streams Dec. 11 on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly