WAGNER MOURA

The actor talks The Secret Agent, the Oscars buzz surrounding it and why “carrying Brazil with us” makes the moment so special

- BY H. ALAN SCOTT

How does it feel to have The Secret Agent chosen as Brazil’s Oscar submission and generating this buzz?

It feels great. It feels especially good because of the fact that this is a Brazilian film. It’s crazy, man. It was 12 years that I didn’t work in Portuguese, speaking my native language. There are many reasons for that. One of them was, of course, the [President Jair] Bolsonaro years in Brazil, where they basically made it impossible for us to make films there. I always felt very connected to Brazil, so it’s really rewarding for me to receive all that attention from a Brazilian film.