Wagner Moura: “The secret agent was born from a spirit of resistance to Bolsonaro”
Meeting with the Brazilian actor, Cannes interpretation prize for the poetic and political thriller of Kleber Mendonça Filho.
Wagner Moura, the world known actor thanks to his interpretation of Pablo Escobar in the series Narcos, recently seen in Civil Warhas just received the male interpretation prize of the 78th Cannes Film Festival for its role as a hunted man in The secret agentfrom Kleber Mendonça Filho. A bewitching thriller in 1977 Brazil, against a background of political repression, moviegoing fantasies and incomplete historical memory. The day after the presentation of the film, the actor explained to First How the film was partly born from his friendship with the filmmaker ofAquarius and Bacurauand their common fight against Bolsonaro:
“You know where I met Kleber Mendonça Filho? Here, in Cannes, 20 years ago! In 2005, I presented a film, Bahia, lower townin the a certain look section. Kleber was still a film critic at the time, he interviewed me and we immediately got along. My wife even took a photo of him that day! We both come from the same region of Brazil, Nordeste, it creates links. Then time passed, I saw his first short films, and then Recife’s noises (First fictional long of Kleber Mendonça Filho, in 2012), which is in my eyes one of the greatest Brazilian films of all time. This is where I started to want to work with him. “
The secret agent: a poetic and political (critical) genre film
“But what really brought us closer to us is not the cinema is politics. Under Bolsonaro, journalists, teachers, scientists, artists, intellectuals, were subjected to many attacks. We were very critical of the regime, and we paid the price. I made a film, Husband (sUr Carlos Marighella, communist opponent of the military dictatorship, murdered in 1969), which was presented at the Berlin Festival in 2019, but which we could not show in Brazil in 2021. Because these bastards censored it! Kleber also suffered a lot during this period. Our relationship is therefore largely based on the support that we have brought to each other. Basically, it looks a bit like that which links the refugees of The secret agentwhich come together to resist and help each other. The genesis of the film is to be sought there: in a friendship nourished by a spirit of resistance. “
The secret agentfrom Kleber Mendonça Filho, with Wagner Moura, at the cinema on January 14, 2026.