Wagner Moura on “the secret agent”, confronting authoritarianism

For Wagner Moura, The secret agent is a return to more than one title.

The politically loaded drama of Kleber Mendonça Filho is the first role of Moura in his native Portuguese in a decade, after the stars turned in Netflix in Netflix Narcos (in Spanish) and performances in English in projects like Alex Garland Civil war And the Appletv + series nominated at the Emmy Emmy Dope thief.

The film also marks the return of Moura to Brazil following the Bolsonaro era, the four years (2019-2022) when the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, reigned on the country, and that the government was openly hostile to artists and independent voices. “The one who had vocal, as in any other type of fascist government, suffered the consequences,” said Moura.

Moura experienced this with first hand with its beginnings as a director, MarigellaThe story of the writer who became a politician Carlos Marighella, who fought the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s. The film was completed in 2019, but the Bolsonaro government has retained the funding of its distribution, effectively censors the film. It was finally published in 2021.

Bolsonaro’s political project finally collapsed – he lost the re -election in 2022, tried to overthrow the result with a style insurrection of January 6, and earlier this month was found guilty of a conspiracy of a military coup and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

For Moura, the echoes of the dictatorship of Brazil and the dangers of repeating authoritarianism, food The secret agent.

In the film, the submission of Brazil for the 2026 Oscars, he plays an ordinary man taken in the suffocating pressures of the dictatorship in the middle of the complicity of the civil elites.

Talk to The Hollywood ReporterMoura has thought about Bolsonaro years, the lessons of the dictatorship and the parallels he sees with Trump America. “It is undeniable that Trump has authoritarian positions, right? A man who attacks the press, attacks universities, attacks artists. This is the whole book of fascism.”

What brought you back to Brazil to make your first Portuguese film in more than a decade?

I made a film in Portuguese in 2017 called MarigellaBut I did not act there, it is therefore my first role of actor in Portuguese for more than 10 years. I did it NarcosWho took about two years, then there was time for Bolsonaro, when he essentially destroyed all the ways of making films in Brazil. It was the true genesis of this film. MarigellaThis film that I made in first in Berlin in 2019, but I could not publish it until 2021. Bolsonaro really censored the film in Brazil. And [The Secret Agent director] Kleber has also undergone consequences for the things he said. You know the exercise: they attack universities, artists, the press. This is not a new tactic. It is the game book of fascism. But it was very hardcore.

It was sort of the genesis of this project. Kleber and I, and many artists and intellectuals, academics and journalists in Brazil were like: “What are we going to do?” The secret agent came from this political situation.

So did you start developing this together?

Yes. I met Kleber in Cannes 20 years ago, in 2005. I was there with a Brazilian film called Lower townAnd he was there as a critic. And we hit him. Maybe because we are both north-eastern Brazil, he’s from Recife, I am from Salvador, and we have shared many cultural history, jokes and things. There was a connection.

And then when I returned to Brazil, I started watching his short films, and I said to myself: “Dude, this critic can make films.” They were great. We stayed in touch. And then I saw a film called Neighboring soundswhich was his first feature film. I thought it was one of the greatest Brazilian films that I have ever seen. I was like: I have to work with this guy. He is my soul mate in terms of cinema. Then he made a film with Sonia Braga called Aquarius. Then when he did BacurauHe invited me to be there, but I couldn’t, because I was heading Marigella. So we started to build this thing together.

I know The secret agent Was it not a biography, but was there real stories that you looked for and made for the film?

I made a lot in my own film, because my film talks about a real character. A guy called Marighella, who was the chief of the armed resistance against the dictatorship. So I spoke to everyone, bringing the ex-warrilla. I did a lot of real and deep research.

With this one, it was different. What I really like about this film is that this guy does not try to overthrow the government. It is not a guerrilla warfare. He’s just a man who tries to stick to his values ​​when everything surrounds him pushes in the opposite direction. It is how brutally a dictatorship is on ordinary people. Not the fighters of freedom, but the guys who just want to follow their own path, live their own life and the price they pay for it.

You do not see an army in this film, because in fact, the coup d’etat of Brazil [in 1964] was a Civil Mids Staff. He was supported by businessmen and people who wanted to get rid of a left -wing government. In the film, we see more of the civil part. These businessmen, these people, who have been empowered by the government. Like the way Trump empties the people of Silicon Valley and all his friends. This is what happened in Brazil.

Do you see direct parallels with what’s going on in the United States with Trump?

I don’t think they are yet there. But it is undeniable that Trump has authoritarian positions. A man who attacks the press, attacks universities and attacks artists. This is the whole game book of fascism. These are the first things they opt, like free thought, the free press.

What warning this film and Brazilian history have for people in the United States?

We saw the Capitol invaded on January 6 (2021). There was the invasion, the electoral negatives and a leader provoking his audience to do something. In Brazil, the same has happened. [On Jan. 8, 2023]. The same has happened. The people have invaded institutions. It was very brutal and very similar to what happened in the Capitol. The difference was that Brazil acted very quickly and put people in prison, they suspended political rights in Bolsonaro and continued those who financed the insurrection.

We tried Bolsonaro. Barely two weeks ago, the Supreme Court sentenced him to 27 years in prison. This did not happen in the United States, and the reason I think he did not do it is that Brazilians know what a dictatorship is. We know how hardcore it is. We know how bad this shit is. I said that when I was promoting Civil war: I think the Americans hold democracy to acquire. Maybe it changes. Maybe people wake up now that they have to do something.

I’m very proud of Brazil at the moment. This is not something I say very often. We grew up saying: “Brazilian democracy is very young, very fragile.” We did not release a dictatorship in 1985. But now I say to myself: “Damn yeah, guy, it works!” The institutions worked separately and it was beautiful to see how they did their job. Everything has worked as a democracy should work. There was an attempt to overthrow the state of law, and it was punished.

You know, Brazil had a law of amnesty after 1985 which essentially forgiven all the torturers, the killers, all those who did all kinds of horrible things during the dictatorship. We had that, Bolsonaro’s own career [who was a military officer under the dictatorship] would not have been possible. It is important that we remember it. This film is also a film on memory.

Neon manages the American liberation of the secret agent. The film bowed to New York on November 26 and in Los Angeles on December 5.