By Helen Barlow

Wagner Moura, one of Brazil’s leading stars, shot to international fame following his astounding portrayal of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in two seasons of the Netflix series Narcos. The 43-year-old came to The Sydney Film Festival last year to promote his directing debut Marighella, about one of his country’s prominent activists Carlos Marighella, a politician and guerrilla fighter who was killed by police officials in 1969. Seu Jorge played him and Moura did not appear in the film.

Now Moura, a politically-inclined Goodwill Ambassador with the International Labour Organization, plays Brazilian United Nations diplomat and humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello in the Netflix feature Sergio, which premiered in Sundance this year.

After the mild-mannered Vieira de Mello’s accomplishments with totalitarian regimes in Cambodia and East Timor – not to mention his work in Sudan, Bangladesh and so many other places – he was ultimately killed in a 2003 terrorist bomb attack along with 20 members of his staff, while believing he could achieve a similar peaceful accord in Iraq.

“Sergio was considered to be a mix of Bobby Kennedy and James Bond because he was a guy who was really in the field,” Moura tells me in Sundance. “He was the world’s Mr Fixit.”

Moura had long been keen to make a film about the man he describes as “one of his heroes”. Incredibly, another project was also on the cards as Greg Barker, who had directed a 2009 HBO documentary (likewise titled Sergio), also wanted to make a feature. Ultimately, the pair banded together, and Moura also came on as a producer.

“Wagner and I shared this vision from our very first Skype call,” Barker recalls. “It’s about empathy, love and a way out of darkness, which is a story we can all use right now. It was the right time to make the film. I always saw the story as a feature film. Sergio’s internal struggle was something that belonged to the big screen.”

Moura: “One of the reasons I decided to make this film was to bring awareness to such a national hero. I’m Brazilian and I think he should be acknowledged. People are aware of who Sergio was, but it could be much more. I’ve basically seen and read everything about him. I’ve watched the documentary many times and I’ve watched a lot of footage where you can see him in the field.”

Was it fun to be sexy and suave after playing Pablo Escobar in Narcos?

“Oh, Pablo was kind of sexy too!” Moura responds with a chuckle, referring to the role for which he learnt Spanish from scratch. “Any character is a challenge especially when he is based on a real person. I try to achieve a balance and go as close as I can to the core of a person, but at the same time you cannot imitate them, so it can be difficult. I try to learn as much as I can and then try to forget them in order to create my own version. Sergio was a complex person and Pablo was too. This is one of the greatest things about going deep into characters because none of us are simple. We all have our dark and light sides.”

The film also deals with Vieira de Mello’s love for Carolina Larriera played by actress-of-the-moment, upcoming Bond girl Ana de Armas. Interestingly, the actors have been in a romantic relationship twice on screen and it gets quite steamy here.

“Ana is one of the best actresses I’ve ever worked with,” Moura admits. “It was amazing to work with her on this film and it’s not just the fact that we are both Latinos. We did Sergio, then went to Cuba and shot Wasp Network (where they played a married couple) and she filmed Knives Out in between with Daniel Craig. Ana never stops working. She’s not in Sundance because she’s shooting something else.” Larriera, who is still quite a beauty, was in the Sundance premiere audience and received a standing ovation.

Sergio was shot on three different continents, as it was important for the filmmakers to have different accents and nationalities.

“It’s a challenge every time you change locations,” Barker notes of the production, which filmed in Brazil, Jordan and Thailand. “We had the privilege of working with local people and the fact that we had people like the East Timorese to populate the scenes set in East Timor brought another layer to the story.”

Moura: “Sergio was a world leader and it was important for us to show his international point of view. We had a German actor, American actors, Brazilian actors, Ana is from Cuba and we also had the international crew. So, this was a very ambitious project to produce. The idea of making a film about Latin people that doesn’t conform to stereotypes was hugely important to me.”

Sergio will stream on Netflix from April 17, 2020