JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Wagner Moura is the first-ever Brazilian to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in "The Secret Agent." He told Wild Card host Rachel Martin, the movie is a passion project for him and the film's director.
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WAGNER MOURA: This film is openly a political film...
RACHEL MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: ...Because it comes from our shared perplexity over what was going on in Brazil from 2018 to 2022, when Brazil elected democratically a fascist president.
MARTIN: Jair Bolsonaro. Yep.
MOURA: And we were both very - Bolsonaro. And we were both very vocal against him. And it's like the film about this man that this is sticking with the values that he has when everything around him is saying the opposite.
SUMMERS: On Wild Card, he reflected on his career on stage.
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MARTIN: Is there anything in your life that feels like praying?
MOURA: Well, I think theater is - you know, I think - I see very many similarities between the liturgy of theater and of some religion, especially Catholic religion. I think that when the - when a play starts, you're commanding some sort of ritual there 'cause you're saying those same words every day but differently. You know, like, as a priest would go up there and say parts of the Bible, or - there is a liturgy where he - you know, he holds the cross and he takes the wine, and he gives the - I think that this - when you repeat...
MARTIN: The sacrament. Yeah. The sacrament.
MOURA: The sacrament. When you repeat a gesture and you repeat an action for many, many, many, many, many times...
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: ...Those actions, they gain meaning.
MARTIN: The ritual of it creates the...
MOURA: The ritual.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: The ritual. It can change, and your perception of the ritual can change. But it's meaningful.
MARTIN: Does it help or hinder your effort at acting? Like, does it get harder because the words take on this different meaning, or does it get easier?
MOURA: It gets amazing. It gets, like - it's like - because it's interesting 'cause you feel like, oh, it's the same words.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: So it's going to be the same thing. No. Every day it is different because every day you discover something different to those things. Every day, you're like - and your colleague's going to throw something different to you.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: And then it's - that's the beauty of acting. For me, that's the most valuable thing about acting. That's why it's hard for me when I work with directors or actors that stick with the - this is how the scene should be.
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: And they want the scene to be exactly how they thought. And they lose the opportunity of, like, going to so many different...
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: ...Directions. You know, each single take can be different. It's the most beautiful and exciting thing about acting, I think.
MARTIN: And if you're not opening yourself up to that possibility, then the spiritual component of it is lost on you and the audience. And then that gift is never...
MOURA: Exactly.
MARTIN: ...Given. That gift is never delivered.
MOURA: Exactly. So...
MARTIN: Yeah.
MOURA: That's exactly right. So that - exactly. That spiritual component goes away.
SUMMERS: You can watch the full conversation with Wagner Moura on YouTube at NPR Wild Card. The Oscar-nominated film "The Secret Agent" is out now. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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