Much has been written about the many controversies this awards season. How have these swirls of controversies affected you?
I have been working so much on the film’s campaign, it’s superhuman. I travel for seven hours here, five hours there, 20 hours, doing screenings and Q&As. The film never had money for big billboards; it was a man-to-man, guerilla fight. And outside of Brazil, it hadn’t been released before January, so people only heard about it from festivals or special screenings. And then there was the surprise of the Golden Globes, but we didn’t even have time to celebrate because LA was on fire the next day and I had to evacuate. In the middle of that tragedy, you receive something wonderful, but you move on—there is no time.
It’s a new way, with the violence and power of the internet. Brazil is very, very strong in the internet. Artists in Brazil had to learn to navigate this wild thing over the last 10 years. Artists were targets of fake news, of aggressiveness. At the same time, the internet is wonderful for an independent artist like me, as it allows me to release my plays and books.
I’m in shock with what happened. It’s sad, it’s really shocking. But I’m totally against the hate culture on the internet. I was a target, and I always fought against it.
What do you plan to do after the Oscars?
Sleep. [Laughs.] I wrote a six-part series that we are in deals with, and I wrote a script for a film. I have my life as it always was. I don’t know if it’s gonna be different. I don’t think so.
You’ve had such a rich career. Is there anything you still want to do that you haven’t done?
There’s a short story by [José Maria de] Eça de Queirós, a Portuguese writer from the 19th century, that’s a Darwinist version of Genesis. I would love to do it in theater. It’s been a long project, and things keep happening, but I need to do it. It’s unbelievable, one of the most beautiful things I have ever read.
