The Secret Agent (2025)

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Kleber Mendonça Filho

I have a script for Secret Agents, which I want to do with Wagner Moura. The plot takes place in 1977, but it is not a film about the dictatorship: it is about the logic of Brazil. It is a history film that takes place almost 50 years ago. I was nine years old at the time, the film comes from childhood memories. [+]

[Gacivory]

Sounds interesting!

[HipsterTrash]

Wow. How am I just hearing about this today?

Hell yeah though.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Wow. How am I just hearing about this today?

Hell yeah though.

It's not an uncommon situation.

There are times when even I, a Brazilian, only become aware of promising domestic projects ages after their usually fanfare-less announcement or after they've been shot.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

It's not an uncommon situation.

There are times when even I, a Brazilian, only become aware of promising domestic projects ages after their usually fanfare-less announcement or after they've been shot.

The important thing is that he's still working so if I learn about news right before the film comes out then it's all good.

[Cremildo]

Brazilian auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho is set to direct “The Secret Agent,” a gripping political thriller headlined by “Civil War” star Wagner Moura

Brazilian auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”) is set to direct “The Secret Agent,” a gripping political thriller headlined by “Civil War” star Wagner Moura. The film is set in the late 1970s during the final years of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

MK2 Films, the sales banner behind the Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” will introduce the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. Now in pre-production, “The Secret Agent” is being produced by Brazil’s Cinemascopio (“Bacurau,” “Aquarius”) and MK Productions, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films such as Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” and Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War.”

Moura, who broke through internationally with his Golden Globe-nominated performance as Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series “Narcos,” will star as Marcelo, a university professor in his 40s who is on the run. He travels from São Paulo to the seaside city of Recife during Carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son. But he soon finds out he has been tailed and spied on by neighbors in his new refuge, leaving him no possible escape from the tentacles of corruption. Moura stars opposite Maria Fernanda Candido (“The Traitor”).

“The Secret Agent” is a passion project for Mendonça Filho, a politically-minded filmmaker who penned the script based on extensive research and a deep dive into his own archives. The story unfolds in his hometown of Recife, which served as the backdrop for his 2016 Cannes competition film “Aquarius,” as well as “Neighboring Sounds” and “Pictures of Ghosts,” another Cannes alumnus which represented Brazil in the 2023 Oscar race. “The Secret Agent” marks Mendonça Filho’s most ambitious feature to date — and his first fiction film since “Bacurau,” which received Cannes’ Jury Prize in 2019.

Along with its rich historical context, “The Secret Agent” will also weave in folklore elements, such as the Carnival festivities and urban legends, as well as an authentic Brazilian soundtrack. The movie is expected to be delivered in 2025.

[BerC]

Should be a wonderful film. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of Filho's work thus far.

[slip220]

anything with Wagner Moura is worth my time

[Cremildo]

Udo Kier will have a cameo.

[BluBonnet]

[peruguy]

Wish I could get Wagner and the rest of his ELITE SQUAD in 4K.

[Cremildo]

[Cremildo]

Vanity Fair: Wagner Moura Makes a Deeply Personal Return to Brazilian Cinema in The Secret Agent

[BluBonnet]

First clip

[Cremildo]

Screen International: "riot of a movie"

Deadline: "Wagner Maura Effectively Plays Man Of Mystery In Brazilian Thriller"

The Playlist: "Stunning Brazilian Crime Drama Steeped In History & A Palpable Adoration for Cinema"

Variety: "Terrific ’70s Thriller"

IndieWire: "Beautifully Remembered Period Thriller"

[BluBonnet]

Reportedly received the longest standing ovation at the festival so far



+

He seems happy

[Cremildo]

Metacritic

[BluBonnet]

[BluBonnet]

NEON Acquires North American Rights to Kleber Mendonça Filho’s ‘The Secret Agent’

[Cremildo]