The director of “The Secret Agent”, Kleber Mendonça Filhosaid in an interview with CNN Portugal what were the initial ideas that resulted in this year’s four-time Oscar nominated film. The main world cinema awards take place on March 15th, at the Dolby Theater, in Los Angeles, in the United States.
In the conversation, the filmmaker revealed that the starting point for the production was the idea of working with Wagner Moura, who stars in the film and is competing for the . This desire was added to the desire to make a different thriller, which explored unusual paths for the genre.
“The story emerged, as always, when developing a film, from several ideas. One of them was working with Wagner Moura, that was an initial starting point”, declared Mendonça.
The second thing was to make a thriller, but one that challenged the very notion of genre. You might have difficulty telling whether ‘The Secret Agent’ is a thriller, a melodrama, a horror film in a certain way, a historical film. There are several films in this one for almost two years,” he said. “I think it’s one of the most interesting expressions. As we say in Brazil, that’s when we let the dogs out. Anything can happen in a horror, fantasy film. But I’m also very attached to realism. The union of realism and extreme cinema seems very interesting.”
Mixing genres, the Pernambuco native arrived at a film that also takes a very particular perspective, from Recife in a specific time frame.
“I wanted to do a historical investigation of my country, my city, a very particular moment in Brazil, which is the 70s, when there was a military regime that was far from democratic,” he said. “I’ve always believed in the film, I really like what we did. But it’s always a surprise, after all, it’s a film that has a very Brazilian approach, but at the same time I also thought it could be universal and I believe it is universal.”
About the film “The Secret Agent”
Set in Recife in 1977, the title is a political thriller, which follows Marcelo, a professor who runs away from a mysterious past and returns to Recife in search of peace, but soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he is looking for.
The production stars Wagner Moura (Tropa de Elite), Maria Fernanda Cândido (Terra Nostra), Gabriel Leone (Dom), Isabel Zuaa (The Devil’s Knot), Alice Carvalho (Cangaço Novo) and more.
At the 2026 Oscars, the film received four nominations: Best Film, Best International Film, Best Cast and Best Actor to Wagner Moura.
Brazil is also represented by a fifth edition, for the director of photography Adolpho Velosowhich competes in the Best Photography category for the American production “Sonhos de Trem”.
CNN Brasil will have a special live broadcast on Oscar night
In addition to special articles on the website, we will hold a live broadcast from 7pm to 1am with Elisa Veeck and Mari Palma on TV and YouTube. Alongside artists and influencers, we will show everything from the red carpet to announcing the winners of the 98th edition of the award.
