Oscars for the first time': Inside Wagner Moura’s path to Best Actor

Our series Oscars for the first time continues highlighting this year's historic nominations. This week we take a look at one of the top categories best actor with one nominee who's making history. The Brazilian film The Secret Agent is nominated for best picture this year's Academy Awards. And it's the second year in a row for a film from Brazil to be up for the night's most coveted award. But what's making Oscar history is the film's lead actor Wagner Mora in The Secret Agent. For the first time an actor from Brazil is nominated in the best actor category. It makes me feel great it's of course very honored and grateful and I honestly hope that this will open the space for other not only Brazilians but South American actors to be recognized by the work that they do because it's that part of the of the world is being producing great films. The Secret Agent is set in 1977 Brazil. Wagner Mora plays Armando a former professor now living undercover as he tries to escape political persecution. He is no stranger to television and film known for his breakthrough role as drug lord Pablo Escobar in the Netflix hit series Narcos. And in the 2024 dystopian film Civil War playing a journalist opposite Kirsten Dunst a role he was destined for. I graduated as a journalist as a journalist and then worked as a journalist for a while but I was doing two things at the same time and at some point like just I thought that being an actor was my biggest call. That calling earned a ticket to Hollywood's biggest night for his first role in his native tongue Portuguese in more than a decade. I met Wagner Mora in Cannes 20 years ago and we developed a friendship and of course I admire his work as an actor he liked my films very much and finally we got together to make this film. This film came from the necessity that Kleber and I shared to understand what it was to be in a country where you know the perplexity of living in Brazil of the 21st century that was trying to replicate what Brazil was during the dictatorship which was insane crazy. The filmmaker and Mora both shared in their struggles they say for being previously silenced for films that were considered critical of their government. We were both very vocal against that government and as you know any fascist government they they fight back they attack journalists they attack universities they attack artists and I couldn't have my film released in Brazil. My film release was released in Berlin in 2019 and I could only release the film in Brazil in 2021 and even though under lots of threats we had to have metal detectors at the doors it was but it was a fight that I was very happy to engage. It's hard because you know when these authoritarian governments the worst that they do is that they empower their followers in their worst. I hope that Brazilians the new generation of Brazilians will grow up more aware of our history and of our memory. And since the oscar so white controversy back in 2015. Well I'm here at the academy awards otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. This year's nominations mark significant progress in diversity representation that's grown over the last several years. When you look at just the representation of the actors this year there are 20 actors nominated every year. We have 30 percent six out of 20 are people of color. That is a win. He is only the sixth Latino ever to be nominated in best actor. We've only had five others. So it also helps redefine the definition of what people believe a Latino is. Many times they just think people who speak Spanish. No Brazilians are Latinos too. They speak Portuguese. Pretty huge civil war going on. All the characters that I play they're sort of sort of like a version of myself. We are all human beings. We it's beautiful because we can be both terrible and extraordinary. Right like we have and we and we have everything within us. Even for Wagner, Oscar season has made him a little starstruck. No it's been great. I've been I've been I have been talking to many people that I admire and you know exchanging informations and talking and it's been great. And throughout this awards season you end up bumping into lots of people all the time. Right. So I go at some point at some point I'm like I think we're kind of friends. I think I know this person which is really cool.