Fernanda Torres: From Golden Globe Winner to Oscar Contender!

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On a bright and clear Saturday morning in February, Fernanda Torres, the earthy diva of Brazilian cinema, steps out onto the terrace of a stylish mid-century modern home in Beverly Hills. From this vantage point, she takes in the breathtaking panorama of Los Angeles below. Draped in a black coat, she admires the view.

She recently returned from a stay in Lisbon. The city’s final images imprinted on her mind are from January, an unusual time as she unexpectedly took home the Golden Globe for her performance in the film “I’m Still Here“, marking a first for Brazilian actresses.

Torres, 59, recollects that as he walked towards the stage, it was incredibly beautiful. Kate Winslet, one of the world’s famous women, applauded him and smiled warmly. Although Torres doesn’t personally know her, this gesture deeply touched him. Similarly, Tilda Swinton and Nicole Kidman were also smiling at him from afar.

“Then L.A. was on fire,” she says.

In a tragic turn of events, Torres’s dream of Hollywood was abruptly halted by an environmental disaster, leaving her little time to quickly shove her Golden Globe into her handbag as she fled the apocalyptic blaze. Upon reaching LAX, a TSA agent raised an eyebrow at the statuette but did not seize it.

Due to a sudden environmental catastrophe in Hollywood, Torres had to quickly pack her Golden Globe and escape the fire. When she arrived at LAX, a security officer looked at the award curiously but didn’t take it away from her.

In a rather peculiar manner, she comments on the recent event in Los Angeles, often referred to as the city of film, expressing her bewilderment. Her words echo the somber tone of her fictional character Eunice Paiva from “I’m Still Here”. Eunice, a well-off housewife, experiences life-altering events due to her husband’s mysterious disappearance during Brazil’s military dictatorship spanning the 1970s and ’80s. She further mentions that she plans to celebrate once the Oscars are over, stating that she hasn’t had the opportunity due to a lack of spare time.

Indeed, the Oscars are coming up! It’s been a few weeks since the fires, and Torres has learned that she’s been nominated in the category of Best Actress. This nomination is one of three that her movie, “I’m Still Here,” has received. The film is also competing for awards in the Best Picture and International Film categories.

The honors crown a successful global journey for the film, “I’m Still Here,” which continues to be screened worldwide. Since its November release in Brazil, where it was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the United States in January, the film by 68-year-old director Walter Salles has achieved blockbuster status within the art house cinema industry. With a production budget of only $1.5 million, it has already generated a worldwide box office revenue of $25 million.

As I chat from L.A., I’m simply awestruck – it’s been 12 weeks here in Brazil and is once again at the top! It’s quite unusual, but it’s heartening to witness such universal resonance of a single nation’s sensibility echoing across borders,” I mused. However, this beauty is tinged with a sense of foreboding, as my film, “I’m Still Here”, has struck a chord in Brazil, the U.S., and other regions, not just for its timeless message, but also because its warnings about the encroaching threat of fascism seem particularly relevant today.

Beyond simply being a blockbuster success, I’m Still Here has also acted as an unexpected form of nationwide therapeutic breakthrough for a population of over 200 million. This film has courageously tackled unresolved traumas and shattered post-pandemic records in the process.

Torres remarks, “We’ve never discussed it,” referring to Brazil’s long history of dictatorship, where countless individuals suffered torture and many more disappeared entirely. He notes, “This is very much a Brazilian trait – we tend to hide or ignore such issues.

Residing in Rio de Janeiro, Torres has been absent from Brazil since the Oscar nominations were declared on January 23rd. She had last visited during the holiday season when the excitement for Fernanda was at its peak. Now all she can do is wait until March 2nd to discover if she will repeat her success, as she did at the Globes. The 3 million likes on a picture of Torres posted to the Academy’s Instagram account indicate the intense anticipation in Brazil for the results. Torres’ Brazilian fans are a dedicated group, treating this race as they would a major soccer world championship match.

You could rephrase the sentence as follows:

“Simply reach out to fellow nominee Karla Sofía Gascón, a prominent figure in Netflix’s ‘Emilia Pérez’, who previously spoke about her online harassment. A popular speculation suggests that Gascón’s past scandals were uncovered by her fans, who meticulously searched through years of her social media posts written in Spanish.

Regardless of what transpires, Oscar night is expected to unfold much like a World Cup final on the bustling streets of Rio. As Marcelo Rubens Paiva, author and memoirist of the 2015 book “I’m Still Here,” explains, festivities during Carnival may continue, but everyone will pause for the ceremony. In his words, it will feel like witnessing the moon landing.

Torres is the second Brazilian to be given an acting Oscar nomination, following her mother – 95-year-old Fernanda Montenegro, who is arguably more famous as an actor in South America than her daughter. Montenegro was nominated for her role in “Central Station,” a film directed by Salles, back in 1998. However, Gwyneth Paltrow won the award that year, a fact that has not been easily forgotten by Brazilians.

In the movie “I’m Still Here,” Montenegro portrays an older version of Eunice, whose spirit is tested by Alzheimer’s disease later on in life. The title refers to a warning the real-life Eunice had given her children, who were prematurely referring to her in past tense. Eunice passed away in 2018 at the age of 89.

Torres notes that there’s a lot of enthusiasm surrounding her, which she also sensed in Portugal. People approach her on the streets and seem deeply touched. She handles this unexpected spotlight gracefully, commenting, “I’ve grown accustomed to it since I’ve spent most of my life living with my mom. My life isn’t likely to change drastically.

A few days on, I inquire from Montenegro about the sense of pride she experiences regarding her daughter’s journey through I’m Still Here.

Montenegro responds, ‘It feels like a miracle in my life.’ At nearly a century old, I’ve witnessed my daughter blossom into a remarkable individual, both personally and creatively. She’s truly a renaissance spirit, Fernanda.

“Any Oscars advice?”

Montenegro states that she has already achieved victory – before, throughout, and even after. In his opinion, just being nominated is equivalent to winning an Oscar.

***

Torres’ childhood bore a striking resemblance to the portrayed life in ‘I’m Still Here’, a vibrant home in Rio de Janeiro, where nights were regularly abuzz with discussions on politics and artistic creation among writers and performers.

In the ’50s and ’60s, all the artists relocated to Rio, as she clarifies. “Upon returning home from school, they were often practicing their craft right at our dining table,” she recalls fondly. “I greatly enjoyed spending time in their company.

The Paiva clan held a respected position within their local community. Its leader, Rubens Paiva – portrayed by Selton Mello on screen – was once a congressman, stepping down from public office following the 1964 military coup that established an authoritarian government.

However, Paiva secretly backed the rebellion, leading to his imprisonment in a detention center in 1971. From then on, he disappeared without a trace. The movie centers around Eunice, his wife, who was also locked up in a grim, dismal cell for an extended period. Afterward, she was freed unexpectedly and had to manage their family’s five children alone.

Instead of allowing disappearance to overwhelm her, she decides to uproot her family and relocate to Sao Paulo. There, she enrolls in law school and becomes an advocate for Indigenous rights. Simultaneously, she tirelessly works towards obtaining justice for her husband until his memory can find peace.

Although the tale might seem heavy with sorrow, Torres perceives it as anything but tragic. “By bidding farewell to the utopian lifestyle,” she explains about Eunice, “she finds her true self.” In the beginning of the movie, Eunice wasn’t entirely herself; she was a mother, a housewife, the ‘great woman behind the great man.’ However, it’s following the tragedy that Eunice truly becomes Eunice.

Salles and the Paiva family were very close. At the time when Rubens was arrested, Salles was thirteen years old. Throughout his life, he remained friends with Marcelo, who was the youngest of the five children in the Paiva family (portrayed sensitively by Guilherme Silveira in the film).

At age twenty, Marcelo suffered a disastrous swimming mishap that left him severely wounded. Similar to his mother, he transformed his misfortune into triumph by writing a memoir titled “Feliz Ano Velho” (or “Happy Old Year”) in 1982, which became an instant hit and established him as the voice of his generation. However, it wasn’t until the publication of his second memoir, “I’m Still Here,” in 2015 that detailed Eunice’s achievements for the first time, that Salles recognized she would be an excellent main character for a movie.

Torres shares, “Marcelo was almost a role model during my teenage years. We were aware that he had lost his father and that Rubens was brutally murdered by the dictatorship. However, it wasn’t until after 50 years that Marcelo published this book, revealing that Eunice Paiva, not his father or himself, was the true hero. She was passionate about justice, education, and all things right. Recognition, she didn’t seek. It serves as an inspiring compass for our current times.

When Salles forwarded the script to Torres, she thought he merely sought her feedback – not that he intended for her to portray Eunice. This is due to the fact that in Brazil, Torres is often linked with her roles in two popular TV sitcoms, where she played a relentless bridal shop employee in “Tapas & Beijos” (Slaps & Kisses) and one half of a modern-day couple in “Os Normais” (Normal People).

However, Salles had previously directed Torres on two occasions and was aware of her skill in dramatic performances. When she understood that the role was up for grabs, it only took a few hours for her to agree, as he explains.

Torres readied herself for her part as diligently as a boxer prepares for a fight. Recognizing Eunice’s script as some of the most complex and artistically profound material she had ever encountered, she sought out the top acting coach in Brazil – Helena Varvaki, a Greek woman with expertise in ancient tragedies, Stanislavski method, and psychiatry. She dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the most arduous role of her career.

As a gamer, I can tell you this: “I’d often find myself immersed in memories. She’d say, ‘Today, just relax and listen – I believe Eunice spends a lot of her time in prison doing the same.’ The images from that day lingered with me as we filmed the scenes set within the prison.

At the close of every meeting, Torres penned a letter pretending to be Eunice, addressing it to her spouse or child. “Varvaki truly created a trove of memories for me,” Torres notes, adding this about him.

To arrange the family scenes, another coach named Amanda Gabriel was introduced to guide the five child actors, some of whom were new to acting. Initially, Torres found it challenging to recall everyone’s names, being a mother of two sons with director Andrucha Waddington. However, by the end, it felt as if they were her own children.

Eventually, Torres’ meticulous focus on details turned out to be quite impactful, even catching her off guard. Following the capture of a crucial scene at an ice cream parlor – where she received news of her husband’s passing mere seconds prior – she couldn’t help but cry on a street in Rio. “Such emotional responses are rare for me,” she admits. “Yet, I felt Eunice’s presence. It wasn’t anything supernatural; the character was simply with me.

According to Salles, “Eunice took on every role with a strong determination to reach her destination as an actress. At some point, I found it impossible to separate Eunice from the character of Fernanda. Only a handful of actresses could have achieved this.

***

Despite all the planning and foresight, it was impossible to foresee the powerful impact that the anti-authoritarian message of “I’m Still Here” would have in the year 2025.

(The original sentence is grammatically correct but could be made more natural and easier to read by rephrasing.)

During the span it took Salles to study the period and script his movie, Brazil shifted dramatically to the right, choosing Jair Bolsonaro – a populist reminiscent of Donald Trump who publicly expressed support for the former military regime – as its president. If Bolsonaro had been re-elected in 2022, Salles claims, none of the outdoor scenes in I’m Still Here would have been permitted to be filmed.

Just a few months back, news broke about Bolsonaro’s alleged plans for a coup to regain power. “Perhaps Marcelo saw it coming,” Salles mused. “Art, in many ways, is supposed to be a glimpse into the future.” (As a gamer, I might say: “I had no idea about that coup, but maybe Marcelo was ahead of his time with his art.”)

However, Trump’s aggressive early days in office, such as his recent action of disbanding the Kennedy Center board and assuming the role of chairman, clashed with the premiere of the film. This situation recalls a time that Torres remembers vividly, a period when politics had profound impacts on the arts, much like seismic activity does to the earth.

She can clearly remember when her parents, who were on their way up in the theater production world, were taken into custody for further investigation at a place of torture. The authorities filmed the interrogation and later showed it to them.

According to Torres, the conversation went as follows: “They asked my mother, ‘Why were you laughing when he said that?'” She appeared taken aback. Torres’ father clarified, “‘You misunderstood. That wasn’t her laughter.'” He managed to convince them and they released her.

She went on to say that people had been tragically lost, “a blast occurred at a sports arena.” Additionally, her mother faced menacing messages, warning that if she appeared on stage, she would meet a violent end in the theater.

Torres belongs to a line of influential women similar to her mother and Eunice – strong matriarchs who have shaped Brazil’s culture, driving it into the future while safeguarding its heritage.

She notes that the term ‘Eunice’ evokes ‘civility’ in her mind. To put it simply, Eunice is a person who embodies civility, a trait that seems out of place given the barbaric times she lived in.

“So she had to be three times more civilized.”

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2025-02-15 17:26