Wagner Moura on ‘The Secret Agent,’ Confronting Authoritarianism

For Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent is a homecoming in additional methods than one.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s politically charged drama is Moura’s first position in his native Portuguese in a decade, after star-making turns in Netflix’s Narcos (in Spanish) and English performances in tasks together with Alex Garland’s Civil Conflict and the Emmy-nominated AppleTV+ collection Dope Thief.

The movie additionally marks Moura’s return to Brazil within the wake of the Bolsonaro period, the 4 years (2019-2022) when far-right president Jair Bolsonaro dominated the nation, and the federal government was overtly hostile in the direction of artists and unbiased voices. “Whoever was vocal towards him, as in another fascist sort of presidency, suffered the results,” Moura stated.

Moura skilled this firsthand along with his directorial debut, Marighella, the story of writer-turned-politician Carlos Marighella, who fought the Brazilian navy dictatorship of the Seventies. The movie was completed in 2019, however the Bolsonaro authorities withheld funding for its distribution, successfully censoring the film. It was lastly launched in 2021.

Bolsonaro’s political undertaking in the end collapsed — he misplaced reelection in 2022, tried to overturn the consequence with a January 6–model rebel, and earlier this month was convicted of plotting a navy coup and sentenced to 27 years in jail.

For Moura, the echoes of Brazil’s dictatorship and the hazards of authoritarianism repeating itself, fed immediately into The Secret Agent.

Within the movie, Brazil’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, he performs an abnormal man caught within the suffocating pressures of dictatorship amid the complicity of civilian elites.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Moura mirrored on the Bolsonaro years, the teachings of dictatorship, and the parallels he sees with Trump’s America. “It’s plain that Trump has authoritarian positions, proper? A person who assaults the press, assaults the colleges, assaults artists. It’s the entire ebook of fascism.”

What drew you again to Brazil to make your first movie in Portuguese in additional than a decade?

I directed a movie in Portuguese in 2017 known as Marighella, however I didn’t act in it, so that is my first performing position in Portuguese in additional than 10 years. I did Narcos, which took like two years, after which there was the Bolsonaro time, when he mainly destroyed each manner of creating films in Brazil. That was the true genesis of this movie. Marighella, this movie that I directed premiered in Berlin in 2019, however I might solely launch it in 2021. Bolsonaro actually censored the movie in Brazil. And [The Secret Agent director] Kleber additionally suffered penalties for the issues that he was saying. You recognize the drill: They assault universities, artists, the press. It’s not a brand new tactic. It’s the playbook of fascism. However it was very hardcore.

That was type of the genesis of this undertaking. Kleber and I, and plenty of artists and intellectuals, lecturers and journalists in Brazil had been like: ‘What the fuck are we going to do?’ The Secret Agent got here from that political state of affairs.

So that you began to develop this collectively?

Sure. I met Kleber in Cannes 20 years in the past, in 2005. I used to be there with a Brazilian movie known as Decrease Metropolis, and he was there as a critic. And we hit it off. Possibly as a result of we’re each from the Northeast of Brazil, he’s from Recife, I’m from Salvador, and we shared a number of cultural backgrounds and jokes and issues. There was a connection.

After which after I got here again to Brazil, I began to observe his quick movies, and I used to be like: ‘Dude, that critic can direct movies.’ They had been nice. We stored in contact. After which I noticed a movie known as Neighboring Sounds, which was his first characteristic movie. I believed it was one of many biggest Brazilian movies I’ve ever seen. I used to be like: I’ve to work with this man. He’s my soulmate by way of filmmaking. Then he did a movie with Sonia Braga known as Aquarius. Then, when he did Bacurau, he invited me to be in it, however I couldn’t, as a result of I used to be directing Marighella. So we began to construct this factor collectively.

I do know The Secret Agent isn’t a biography, however had been there actual tales you researched and drew on for the film?

I did plenty of that in my very own movie, as a result of my movie is about an actual character. A man known as Marighella, who was the chief of the armed resistance towards the dictatorship. So I used to be speaking to all people, bringing within the ex-guerrilla guys. I did plenty of actual, deep analysis.

With this one, it was completely different. What I actually love about this movie is that this man is just not making an attempt to overthrow the federal government. He’s not a guerrilla. He’s only a man who’s making an attempt to stay along with his values within the second that every part round him is pushing in the other way. It’s about how brutal a dictatorship is on common individuals. Not the liberty fighters, however the guys who simply wish to go their very own manner, stay their very own lives, and the value they pay for that.

You don’t see any navy on this movie, as a result of really, Brazil’s coup d’etat [in 1964] was a civil-military coup d’etat. It was supported by businessmen and individuals who wished to do away with a left-wing authorities. Within the movie, we see extra of the civil a part of it. These businessmen, these individuals, who had been empowered by the federal government. Like the best way Trump empowers the Silicon Valley individuals, and all his mates. That’s what occurred in Brazil.

Do you see direct parallels to what’s taking place within the U.S. with Trump?

I don’t assume they’re there but. However it’s plain that Trump has authoritarian positions. A person who assaults the press, assaults the colleges, and assaults artists. It’s the entire playbook of fascism. These are the primary issues that they go for, like free pondering, free press.

What warning does this movie, and Brazilian historical past, have for individuals within the U.S.?

We noticed the Capitol invaded on January 6 (2021). There was the invasion, the election deniers, and a pacesetter scary his viewers to do one thing. In Brazil, the exact same factor occurred. [On Jan. 8, 2023]. The exact same factor occurred. The individuals invaded the establishments. It was very brutal, and similar to what occurred within the Capitol. The distinction was that Brazil acted actually quick, and put individuals in jail, they suspended political rights to Bolsonaro and went after those that financed the insurgency.

We tried Bolsonaro. Simply two weeks in the past, the Supreme Courtroom sentenced him to 27 years in jail. That didn’t occur within the U.S., and the rationale I believe it didn’t is that Brazilians know what a dictatorship is. We all know how hardcore that’s. We all know how unhealthy that shit is. I stated this after I was selling Civil Conflict: I believe Individuals take democracy with no consideration. Possibly that’s altering. Possibly now persons are awakening to the truth that they must do one thing.

I’m very pleased with Brazil proper now. That’s not one thing I say fairly often. We grew up saying: ‘Brazilian democracy could be very younger, very fragile.’ We solely got here out of a dictatorship in 1985. However now, I’m like: ‘Fuck yeah, man, it really works!’ The establishments labored individually and it was lovely to see how they did their job. Every part labored like a democracy ought to work. There was an try to topple the state, the rule of regulation, and it was punished.

You recognize, Brazil had an amnesty regulation after 1985 that mainly forgave all of the torturers, killers, all people who did every kind of horrible issues in the course of the dictatorship. Had we not had that, Bolsonaro’s personal profession [who was a military officer under the dictatorship] wouldn’t have been potential. It’s necessary we bear in mind this. This movie can also be a movie about reminiscence.

Neon is dealing with the U.S. launch of The Secret Agent. The movie bows in New York on Nov. 26 and in L.A. on Dec. 5.