Angelina Jolie was out in LA this week, attending yet another screening/premiere for Pablo Larrain’s Maria at the Writers Guild Theater. The paparazzi swarm was so intense, Jolie looked like she barely got into the theater, and she was traveling with her bodyguards too. As you can see in these photos, Angelina wore a bronze-y Armani dress and a black double-breasted coat. Meanwhile, Maria hasn’t even had a theatrical release and Angelina keeps picking up special-recognition awards. It’s the perfect storm for her – one of the last movie stars of that generation, in a comeback role which is getting widespread acclaim. She’s already been honored at the Toronto Film Festival, and the Santa Barbara Film Festival announced plans to give her an award in the new year. Now the Gotham Awards are giving her something special:

Angelina Jolie is set to receive the Performer Tribute at the 2024 Gotham Awards.

The event will take place Dec. 2 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The Gotham Film & Media Institute said the Oscar winner will be honored for performance as the legendary, but troubled, opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s upcoming film Maria.

“Like the legendary figure she portrays, Angelina Jolie transcends mere performance to craft something extraordinary. Her interpretation captures both Maria Callas’ complexity as an artist and the cultural resonance that defines an icon,” The Gotham executive director Jeffrey Sharp said in a statement.

[From THR]

I love it, honestly. Every other year, I’m like “there are too many awards shows, the awards are less special, it’s too much noise.” But this year, I’m like: give Angelina all of the awards, please. I know that this is Gotham’s way of confirming Angelina’s attendance, ditto for Santa Barbara and Toronto. But it’s still nice! Chances are, the big “win” will be if Angelina gets an Oscar nomination, not the Best Actress Oscar itself. So I’m fine with her racking up the special awards at festivals and critics’ award shows.

What else? Angelina was asked if she would ever consider doing a Broadway musical now that she’s sung opera in a movie. She replied: “I would love to, but I’d be very shy. But if you asked me if I would be singing opera a year ago, I probably would have said no. I started with Strasberg and I started in theater so of course I would love to. But deep deep down, I probably don’t think I’m good enough.” I don’t think she should do a stage musical, but I absolutely think she could do a play on Broadway. I still believe we’ll see her move full-time to New York when Vivienne and Knox go to college. Speaking of, Jolie was also asked if her kids will follow her into acting, and she said: “No, I think they’re especially shy, very private people…and they want to be private.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.