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Kleber Mendonça Filho Says He Wrote 'The Secret Agent' for Wagner Moura

The director presents the collaboration as a political-artistic response to Brazil’s recent far-right turn, using Moura’s multiple roles to probe an unresolved past.

Overview

  • In an IndieWire interview ahead of IndieWire Honors on December 4, Kleber Mendonça Filho spotlights Wagner Moura as the event’s Performance Award recipient.
  • Mendonça Filho says the role was tailor-made after years following Moura’s theater, television, and film work to design the performance the story required.
  • He describes Moura’s multiple characters as an artistic reaction to Brazilian society’s difficulty confronting its history during the Bolsonaro era.
  • The pair first met at Cannes in 2005 and reunited two decades later with The Secret Agent in competition at the festival.
  • Mendonça Filho says the film earned two official jury prizes at Cannes and expresses hope that Moura’s performance will garner further awards and broad audience recognition.