Wagner Moura is teaming up again with Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho. The director revealed that his next feature, working title Foreign Correspondent, will star Moura, the lead of their acclaimed collaboration The Secret Agent, World of Reel reported Sunday.
Mendonça Filho named the project and its star for the first time at a press conference for Brazil's Cine Ceará festival, according to the report, which cites the Brazilian outlet Oxente Pipoca.
A return to Recife in the 1930s
Based on hints the director has given in past interviews, the film is a period drama set in 1930s Recife, following local events in the lead-up to World War II, World of Reel reports. The story is expected to take in the 1935 communist uprising, which broke out in Recife, Natal and Rio de Janeiro before it was crushed, and the rise of Getúlio Vargas' authoritarian Estado Novo two years later.
The title nods to Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 thriller Foreign Correspondent, but the project is not a remake. Mendonça Filho is still in the research phase, with at least 14 books on his reading list, and World of Reel says audiences should not expect the film before 2028 at the earliest.
Why it matters
The reunion brings together a director and star whose last film became an international awards-season player. Mendonça Filho broke out with Neighboring Sounds, followed with the Sônia Braga-led Aquarius and won the Cannes Jury Prize for Bacurau.
The Secret Agent gave Moura a major awards-season run. Cup of Soul covered the film when it was selected as Brazil's Oscar submission and when Moura became the first Brazilian man nominated for best actor at the Critics Choice Awards. See more on the film on the The Secret Agent page.
A second collaboration set in Moura's home country gives the pair another chance to bring a chapter of Brazilian history to global audiences. Additional cast, producers and a production start date have not been announced.
