The film “Playback” recovers the music and personality of Carlos Paião, “a phenomenon” whose creativity and artistic dimension remain little known to the general public, highlighted director Sérgio Graciano and actor Rafael Ferreira, during filming.
“It is important to remember all the figures who have marked our country and people in some way, and Carlos is one of those figures”, stated Sérgio Graciano, on a visit to the filming set, highlighting that the artist was “an exceptional musician” and “an incredible composer”.
For the director, the film “Playback”, which will include key moments from the singer and composer’s career, such as his time at the Song Festival, is an opportunity to revisit a figure who he considers to have had a profound impact on national culture.
Film is a “musical biography”
It is a “biografia musical”, he wantsuses music as a narrative element, although the actors do not speak while singing, he explained, during a break in rehearsals for Carlos Paião’s wedding scene with Zaida Cardoso, taking place at the Oeiras Municipal Garden.
Use a movie “musical moments, kind of dreamlike, it’s a lot about Carlos Paião’s head, which few people know, in fact that’s what’s interesting about the film, is knowing how that head works, what his motivations were, what his ideas were, how he saw the world.”
In the background, actors dressed and made up, as 1980s fashion dictated, rehearsed steps and exchanged impressions, to the sound of the song “Pó de rice”.
“He was truly an incredible musician”
However, it is not a documentary, there is room for artistic interpretation, highlighted the director, considering that “you always have to take poetic license to write a biography”why “It’s a reading by a screenwriter and a director, and, therefore, there will be people who will identify with it and others who won’t.”
For Sérgio Graciano, although the public recognizes Carlos Paião as “a popular music singer”its true artistic dimension remains little explored. “He was more than that. He really was an incredible musician”, he said, adding that he and the team discovered, during the process, “a very out-of-the-box composer”.
The film will include new music, recovered from homemade models left by the musician, who died in 1988, aged 30, in a car accident.
“Zaida, who is Carlos Paião’s widow, has recorded songs with a recorder away from the instruments, that is, completely amateur, on models, and we took advantage of one of those songs and are going to put it in the film, remixed.”
The musical arrangements were delivered to “a musician who is arranging all of Carlos Paião’s songs”trying to imagine “how would Carlos Paião sound in 2025, without naturally losing his melody”added Sérgio Graciano.
The director also highlighted the casting process, which sought to give space to new talents. “Essentially they had to know how to sing, because the voice belongs to the actor, and after knowing how to sing we started to see who knew how to act.”
Rafael Ferreira will play Carlos Paião
The main role ended up being given to Rafael Ferreira, an actor whom Graciano praises, for beingr “an incredible actor” what “He’s doing Carlos Paião like no one else”.
Regarding this process, the young actor says he was chosen through a public casting, after responding to an ad he saw on director Sérgio Graciano’s Instagram. The process included the delivery of a ‘self-tape’, in which she sang “Cinderella”, and a subsequent phase of in-person auditions.
With a career that began in 2017, the performer has accumulated some experience in theater, cinema and television, but considers this to be his “first most prominent work and also a great responsibility“.
“I’m playing a singer who I think goes beyond generations, because I was born 10 years later, and I still listened to his songs”, he recalled.
The actor does not intend to reproduce Carlos Paião, but rather pays tribute to him, as he explained: “I’m never going to be him, am I? The idea is to pay homage to this person he was, this artist he was.”
With a taste for music since childhood, Rafael Ferreira received vocal training during his theater studies and recently participated in the show “Quis Saber Quem Sou”, by Pedro Penim, an experience that he considers decisive for this new challenge, because it was where “Improved my skills”.
Building the character involved a month of preparation, with regular rehearsals, research into available archives, “listen to the songs, learn the choreographies”decorate the letters“which are complicated because he has difficult writing skills.”
This was undoubtedly a challenge, but one that the young actor minimizes thanks to the work environment, which he describes as “very good”, and the time he had available to work.
“I think that challenges stop being challenges when we do what we like, when we prepare properly and when we have fun.”
Carlos Paião left a legacy of hundreds of songs
Rafael Ferreira also pointed out the characteristics of Carlos Paião that were made known to him during the research he carried out on the artist. What surprised you most “it was the sense of humor, the intelligence”he said, describing the artist as “a spontaneous, very intelligent person” – which is reflected in the lyrics of the songs – and “It was quite funny”as can be seen, for example, in the song “O Gago”, “that he sings with a stutter, throughout the entire song“, doing “That seems so easy.”
The actor believes that the film could contribute to making new generations aware of the true dimension of the composer, who, despite being remembered “especially for three or four songs”, He left a legacy of hundreds of songs, many of them composed for other artists.
“More than the music, I think what this film seeks is to show who this person is, this personality”, which “is not known, (…) is to make known this phenomenon that he was, far ahead of his time”.
Regarding the logistical and financial challenges inherent to the production of the film, the director recognizes that Portugal is “a country that never has much money to do these types of productions”so it is crucial, in the case of a musical film like this, to spend the money available, “try to put it in the right place”.
“We’ve never actually made, perhaps, a musical film like this (…), so it’s a very big challenge and let’s hope we get it in the right place”, he highlighted.
Despite the limitations, he ensures that the team is doing “a very big film” and hope that”everything goes well.”
The film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2026
In addition to Rafael Ferreira, the cast includes Laura Dutra, Rita Durão, António Mortágua, Anabela Moreira and Albano Jerónimo, among others. The film is a production by Caos Calmo, written by Mário Cenicante and had the collaboration of Zaida Cardoso.
Born in 1967, Carlos Paião studied Medicine, but ended up dedicating himself to music, having composed more than two hundred songs, including “Cinderela”, “Pó de arroz”, “Port Wine”, “Souvenir de Portugal” and “Playback”.
Throughout his career, he collaborated with comedian Herman José – he wrote the lyrics for the character Serafim Saudade for him – and composed for Amália Rodrigues, Lenita Gentil, Mísia.
“Playback” began filming on November 3and filming will last until December, in Lisbon, Cascais and Ílhavo, where the family was from and where the singer’s remains are. The film is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2026, by distributor NOS Audiovisuais.
