Actor Wagner Moura, who stars in the film “The Secret Agent,” said he is already preparing an Oscar campaign for the film, which could earn him a nomination for Best Actor.
“This is a film about a man who decides to remain true to his values, even when everything around him is against him,” the artist said in an interview with TV Globo’s Fantastico. “I spoke with Waltinho (Walter Salles), whose wisdom guided me a lot. I also spoke with Nanda (Fernanda Torres). I’m excited about the campaign.”
The Secret Agent, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, is a thriller that takes place in two eras, but the main action takes place in 1977 during the military dictatorship. Now, two researchers are listening to cassette tapes of the characters’ conversations from the time, trying to uncover the fate of Wagner Moura’s character Marcelo, who arrives in Recife in a yellow Beetle during Carnival.
In Recife, Marcelo receives death threats from a government-affiliated businessman and joins a group of refugees. With an alternate identity, he seeks answers from his past and fights to survive. The film was selected by the country for a run at the Oscars in 2026.
In May, Mendonça Filho won the Best Director trophy at the Cannes Film Festival, where Moura also won the Best Actor award, further increasing international attention for the film.
During an interview with journalist Maju Coutinho, Moura recalled one of his main roles in cinema – Captain Nascimento, the main character in the film “Tropa de Elite”.
“I lived with a lot of BOPE men. They were honest and believed they were doing something important for the country,” he was remembered shortly after a police operation killed 121 people in Rio de Janeiro’s Alemán and Peña complexes. For some viewers, the film normalizes police violence.
“People can interpret the character any way they want,” says the actor. “But we can’t normalize having 121 bodies on the ground. It’s crazy, it’s crazy.”
He also talked about his first American film, The Last Night at the Lobster. In addition to directing, he also appears in movies. “This is a classic American Christmas movie. The magic doesn’t come from the sky, it comes from the people.”