Video: ‘The Secret Agent’ | Anatomy of a Scene

My Title is Kleber Mendonça Filho and I wrote and directed “The Secret Agent.” This sequence takes place in 1977 and it comes fairly late within the movie. I sort of knew it will be an vital sequence for “The Secret Agent,” as a result of that is the place we lastly get to spend a while with the people who find themselves staying at Sebastiana’s constructing, and it will at all times be a difficult sequence from the viewpoint of writing and likewise of capturing. So we’ve Isabél Zuaa taking part in Tereza Victória. We’ve Licínio Januário, who performs her husband. Hermila Guedes performs Claudia. João Vitor Silva performs Haroldo. Tânia Maria, after all, who’s taking part in Dona Sebastiana. We’ve Lula Terra and likewise Gal, who’s asleep, and we’ve Robson, who performs Clóvis. The entire sequence was extremely difficult as a result of we had one night time. This can be a night time shoot. We shot from 7 p.m. till 4:30 a.m. and my largest concern was that I wouldn’t have the ability to do justice to each character and to honor them, as a result of I like each certainly one of these characters. And in addition these actors. And with two cameras, anamorphic Panavision lenses, three mics, about 30 crew, three canine, a cat. We had so much to get achieved, not solely when it comes to the pictures, but in addition dramatically as a result of the sequence begins very gentle hearted after which it strikes in direction of a change within the ambiance within the room. However the entire sequence, I believe, works due to the nice appearing and likewise due to numerous affection that comes via within the textual content. Wagner’s character, he takes a “why not, what the hell” perspective in direction of hiding his identify. He simply reveals who he’s and that has an impact on his mates. Licínio at all times very skeptical as Antonio, Tereza Victória’s husband within the movie. They’re from Angola. And slowly we convey new layers of which means when it comes to what it means to be getting by in an authoritarian regime, in a scenario the place you’re below risk. [TELEPHONE RINGING] The phone, the best way it rings, we blended it a bit louder than it will in all probability sound. Nadia Comaneci, the nice Romanian gymnast, is within the background there with Wagner. And that is when Sebastiana actually exhibits how a lot she cares for these folks. She really says, I don’t need you to really feel unhappy. Let me present you my little museum. And this second, I believe, it actually opens up a brand new window into the movie as a result of we now notice that Sebastiana herself, she has a historical past overseas, and she or he has gone via so much in life, very like everyone else within the movie and very like all these characters. I by no means actually needed to do that sequence handheld. I at all times thought that it ought to be precisely the best way it appears: very exact pictures, effectively composed. I actually needed the actors and the characters to dwell throughout the body with none further power coming from the digicam itself and the Panavision facet ratio, actually, I believe it’s superb to get folks into the body. And Gal, little Gal, she was alleged to have a couple of strains within the movie, however she was so sleepy and I assumed, let’s simply let her sleep. After which in some unspecified time in the future I requested Evgenia, let’s get a couple of pictures of her really sleeping. And certain sufficient, after we had been modifying the sequence, we had a have a look at her sleeping, and I believe it’s a ravishing approach to finish the sequence. She’s really sleeping and perhaps dreaming of a greater Brazil.