“I totally get the criticism”: the role Wagner Moura knew would be his most divisive
Wagner Moura is the most famous Brazilian actor in the world, but there’s an asterisk next to his most iconic performance.
Brazil has had an active cinema culture for decades, but the last few years have seen the nation’s films truly popping off with an international audience, wherein I’m Still Here became the nation’s first film to win the Academy Award for ‘Best International Feature’ after it took an upset victory over Emilia Pérez, the perceived frontrunner that had amassed a staggering 14 nominations.
While last year’s The Secret Agent did not end up winning the category, it made a major splash with the Academy with nominations for ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best International Feature’, ‘Best Casting’, and ‘Best Actor’ for Wagner Moura, who had also picked up the top acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He had become one of the biggest actors in the world, and had headlined American productions like the A24 thriller Civil War and the Apple TV drama Dope Thief.
Moura’s first major role in front of international audiences was Narcos, the Netflix crime series that explored the origins of the Colombian drug war, and although there have been several actors over the years who have turned in their interpretations of Pablo Escobar, Moura’s depiction of the ruthless drug lord was by far the most in-depth.
He landed the role in Narcos thanks to his friendship with the Netflix show’s creator, José Padilha, with whom he had previously worked on Elite Squad, gaining 40 pounds and doing extensive research in order to capture Escobar’s mannerisms and public persona. While it was an acclaimed performance, he did admit to being aware of the criticism that a Brazilian actor was playing such a memorable figure in Colombian history.
“Listen, I’m a Brazilian guy that learned Spanish to play one of the most notorious personalities in the history of Colombia,” Moura said, “It’s like if they were like, ‘let’s hire a Colombian to play Pelé’. So, I totally get the criticism. I did the best I could.”
The actor’s sensitivity to the particulars of the role certainly improved his performance in Narcos; by living in Medellin for half a year to pick up on Spanish, he completely immersed himself in the role. Yet, what was most important about his casting wasn’t the authenticity, but that he turned a controversial figure into a tragic character who is given far more sympathy than what viewers may have expected from a Netflix crime show.
Narcos shows the rise and fall of Escobar in the public’s eye, and how, at one point, he framed himself as a generational politician who might be able to take the nation out of poverty. While at no point did the series attempt to sand off the edges of Escobar and remove his brutalistic qualities, it did show how he emerged from a fatalistic drug war in which there was corruption and duplicity on all sides.
To be both charismatic and terrifying at the same time is no easy task, and it’s a credit to Moura that he was able to take the Narcos part and turn it into a role of Shakespearean depth and tragedy. Any initial controversies have now mostly been forgotten, as Narcos became such a defining piece of contemporary popular culture that the actor is now best known for his encapsulation of Escobar.
